Revival
by serendipitous-15
Summary: The Air Nomad culture and its people were presumed destroyed but what if they had just been forgotten?
1. Prologue

Author's note: Avatar the Last Airbender and all it's characters belongs to Nick, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I am just borrowing them for a bit. All pairing are canon and this follows canon events.

Also, I have no beta so all mistakes are mine, if anyone would like to be my beta that would be wonderful

* * *

_Prologue_

_100 years ago, the start of the war_

The meeting was unprecedented. Never before have the heads of the Air Temples met in such large numbers but the times demanded it; Twelve years after the death of Avatar Roku there were whispers of an attack on the nations by Fire Lord Sozin. The hope of the world fell upon the Air Nomads because they had the Avatar. Traditionally they would have waited until Aang was sixteen to tell him of his identity but they did not have the luxury of time. The boy had to train in all the elements as soon as possible, just in case. After much debate, some of quite heated, the monks of the Northern Air Temple agreed to tell the young novice of his destiny. The possible evacuation of the novices was also debated because everyone was on edge and the monks and nuns wished to be prepared. They hoped that they would never have to evacuate the Air Temples.

They were wrong.

A few weeks before the arrival of Sozin's comet the whispers of an attack became more persistent and the heads of the Air Temples met again. They decided that they now had no choice to evacuate the younger novices; they would leave the option of going up to the older novices. The Avatar was gone and they now had no choice. The majority of the monks of the Northern Air Temple presumed that Avatar Aang was dead but Monk Gyatso held out hope until the end. The head of the temples assembled all its inhabitants and told the novices of the plan. The younger novices and any of the older novices who wished to would leave the temples in the days to come and go into hiding with the help of the Air Nomads that lived outside as well allies within the Earth Kingdom. When the danger had passed the monks and nuns would go and collect them and they could continue with life as always. Unfortunately that was not the case; the Fire Nation invaded the Air Temples and killed all the inhabitants in search for the Avatar. The Fire Nation's army did not find the Avatar and in the wake of the Fire Lord's anger he ordered his army to kill any Airbender they came across and to kill any found hiding them.

The Fire Nation did not know that the head of the Air Temples had sent away their young novices; they assumed that all the novices resided in the temples as they have done since the beginning. It was not common knowledge that the novices had escaped the massacre of the Air Temples. No one looked for the novices because they were all assumed to be dead and because the only ones that mattered were Airbending masters. The novices, like their culture and holy leaders, slipped out of living memories.


	2. Anniversary

AN: Still not mine.

* * *

_Chapter 1 – Anniversary_

_4 months after the end of the war_

Aang sighed as he gazed out on the open water as he and Appa flew towards the South Pole. It had been a long and trying four months. After Zuko declared the war over the real work had begun. Toph, Suki, Sokka and Katara all agreed to stay in Ba Sing Se to help oversee the initial transition period. It hadn't been easy; if they weren't trying to crush a small rebellion then they were trying to stop Earth Kingdom citizens from exacting revenge on Fire Nation colonialists or soldiers. They also tried to help Zuko as much as they could because he was fighting an uphill battle to retain control from advisors and politicians who believed that a sixteen year old, formerly exiled prince was not what their country needed at the moment. Aang, Sokka and Iroh had spent many days in the Fire Nation palace advising Zuko and supporting him against palace advisors that were still loyal to the old guard. Suki and Toph were helping oversee the security situation and often either Suki or Toph could be seen arguing with an Earth Kingdom army official or policeman about the security awarded to colonial villages and towns. Katara was splitting her time between helping Suki and Toph and being in the palace with the others. Needless to say, it was hard on all of them. Aang and Katara hardly had any time to explore their new relationship and instead of finding a rhythm that worked for them they were often stuck in awkward silences or they were just too tired to spend time together. Sokka and Suki were also running into similar problems. Zuko and Mai were dancing around where their relationship was going because both responsibilities to their country that needed to be fulfilled first.

Finally after nearly three months of non-stop problems and challenges there was a lull and Aang told them to use it to visit their homes and families. Suki returned to Kyoshi Island with Sokka in tow, he promised Katara that he would meet her at the South Pole later. Katara returned to South Pole to help in the rebuilding. Toph took more convincing but she eventually agreed to visit her parents and finally make her peace with them. All of them promised to return as soon as possible but Aang told them to take their time. As for Aang, he relaxed for a few days at Iroh's teashop before moving to the Fire Nation palace to help Zuko. He planned to stay there until the others returned. So Aang and Zuko fell into a routine of meetings, training, sparring and free time that suited them quite well. Zuko was obviously caught by surprise when Aang told him four days ago that he was going on a short journey. He demanded to know why Aang was leaving so abruptly, was he unhappy? Aang assured him that he was not, there was just something that he had to do first and then he would return again. He assured Zuko that he would return within a month and that if it made him feel better, then he could send him letters asking for advice if he needed. Now Aang could see the buildings of the Southern Water Tribe get closer and he was starting to get excited, it had been weeks since he's seen Katara and he sorely missed her. In fact, unless Aang was mistaken the figure running towards them was definitely Katara.

* * *

Katara had been helping Master Pakku reinforce the far western wall when the unmistakable silhouette of Appa flew over her. Aang had not told her that he was coming to visit but she was excited nonetheless, she missed him terribly since returning to her tribe. Since her return to the Water Tribe she had been a popular figure, particularly with the older boys who had accompanied Master Pakku from the Northern Water Tribe but her heart belong to Aang and her many male suitors paled in comparison to him. Master Pakku knew exactly why Katara had stopped working; he also knew why she had been steadily rejecting all the advances that came her way since returning to her home. He also knew that if he didn't let her go and meet the young Avatar that she would just go anyway.

"You are excused, Katara," said Master Pakku with a small smirk on his face. Katara, for her part, was initially confused as to what Master Pakku meant. "Go, I know you want to greet him. You are excused for the time being."

"Thank you!" cried Katara jumping down from her ledge and taking off as soon as her feet touched the ice.

"Um, Sifu Pakku?"

"Yes, Arata?"

"Wasn't Katara going to help us finish reinforcing the wall?"

"Let's just hurry, Arata. There's probably going to be a festival tonight because the Avatar has come to visit," said Master Pakku as he hardened the sea water around the small crack he found in the wall. Arata needed no more prodding and he continued to waterbend with some new found purpose. Master Pakku looked over to where the Avatar had landed and witnessed an especially affectionate greeting between the Avatar and his new granddaughter. He shook his head fondly; _young love is a beautiful thing_ he thought.

"So, Aang, what brings you here?" asked Katara after they shared an affectionate kiss. "Is everything going okay at the palace? What about at Ba Sing Se? Do you need us to return?"

"No, you guys don't have to come back yet and everything is fine at the palace and at Ba Sing Se. I told Zuko that if any problems come that he should send word but so far I've heard nothing so I guess everything is fine."

"Then why are you here?"

"There are just some things that I have to take care of at the Southern Air Temple in two days but I decided to make a small detour on the way," Aang replied grinning at her before lacing his fingers through hers and together they walked to her igloo followed closely by Appa and a now awake and cold Momo.

"What kind of things?"

"Nothing really important, just something I have to do. So, is Sokka back yet?"

"He came back five days ago and he's already being annoying," replied Katara in an irritated tone. Aang held back a chuckle, if there's one thing he didn't want was an annoyed Katara with all this water around her. "Come on, maybe seeing you will get him out his annoying 'I miss Suki' phase."

* * *

The rest of the day had been quite eventful. Aang had just enough time to greet Sokka before Hakoda takes Aang to meet some of the other men in the tribe. Afterwards, a feast was held in his honor to thank him for restoring balance to world and protecting not just the two Water Tribes but for also protecting his children. Aang felt honored and also like he was under a microscope as everyone crowded around him anxious to catch a glimpse of him. He was surprised and grateful when his food arrived and found that it was vegetarian, Katara later told him that her grandmother had cooked it especially for him after Katara told her of his vegetarian diet. Now he was finally alone with Sokka and Katara, they were getting caught up on what had been going on since they separated. After they had caught up Katara asked the question that had been on her mind since Aang mentioned it when he first arrived.

"Aang, what are you going to do at the Southern Air Temple?"

At this Sokka looked up from the last letter that Suki had sent him. Aang, was going to visit the Southern Air Temple? Why didn't anyone tell him things anymore?!

"It's the one year anniversary," answered Aang sadly.

Katara looked at Sokka for clarification but he just shrugged his soldiers. They've never heard Aang talk about anniversaries of any kind before.

"The one year anniversary of what, Aang?"

"Of the day when I found out what happened to all the Airbenders."


	3. Lonely No More?

_Chapter 2 – Lonely No More?_

Katara and Sokka looked at each other, neither knew what to say. They have never given much thought to how the knowledge that he was the last of his kind must weigh heavily on Aang. There were much more important things to think about in the past year that after their visit to the Southern Air Temple they had forgotten. Aang had never talked about it after the visits to the Southern and Northern Air Temples so they really didn't know how he felt about it either. During their stay at the Western Air Temple he was too busy showing them around, excited to sharing something with them that it never occurred to them that being there must have made him feel lonely. Now Katara and Sokka looked at each other guiltily, they were his friends but they never talked to him about what happened to his people even after the passing remarks about it that he sometimes made. Some friends they turned out to be.

"Oh," said Sokka breaking the now stifling silence, "that anniversary."

Katara shot her brother a look before turning to Aang. "Would you like us to come with you?" she asked gently.

"I think that this might be something that I have to do on my own," replied Aang slowly looking down at his hands. He had been staring intently at them since telling Katara and Sokka his reason for going to the temple so he didn't see Katara looking at him sadly.

"It's late; I think that I'll let you two get some sleep, okay?"

"Sure thing, Katara. Night," replied Sokka yawning.

"Good night, Aang," said Katara before giving him a pick peck on the lips.

"Ew! Could you two not do that in front of me?!"

Katara just rolled her eyes. "Then stop making goo-goo eyes at Suki."

"Good night, Katara," came the quiet answer as Katara shut blew out the candle on her way out.

* * *

The sky was still black when Aang got up and headed outside. It was the middle of the night and Aang had been trying to sleep for the past hour but now he gave up all semblance of trying. Tomorrow he would have to make the journey to the Southern Air Temple to pay his respects and he couldn't be any less prepared. He, of course, knew that the monks performed funeral rites and oversaw the memorial service following the first year after a death but that proved little comfort to Aang. Funerals were performed away from the temples and memorials, if they were held at the temples, were held at the shrines just at the entrance. Three memorials were performed at the Southern Air Temple while Aang was there and each time he and the other novices were present. Aang had never performed the funeral or memorial rites and he wasn't sure if he remembered them well enough to perform them the way they should be. He had failed his people once already; he didn't want to fail them again. Aang was so busy staring out across the ocean, lost in his thoughts, that he didn't notice or hear the figure approaching him.

"What troubles you, child?"

Aang jumped high into the air before land on his butt in the snow. When Aang looked up he saw Katara and Sokka's grandmother staring down at him with an amused smile on her face. She held out her hand to help in up and Aang wordlessly accepted it. He didn't know why she out here, he was certain that he made no noise as he crept out of the igloo.

"It's nothing, Ka—"

"Please, call me Gran Gran, like the other children. I know that your 'nothing' is really a 'something' otherwise you wouldn't be out here at such an hour. So please, tell me what troubles you, perhaps I can help," said Gran Gran in a soothing voice as she led him to a bench close to the entrance of the igloo.

"How did you know?"

"I have raised two sets of children, my own and my grandchildren, and lived for many years after awhile knowing when something is wrong becomes second nature."

"Did Katara mention that I was going to visit the Southern Air Temple tomorrow?"

"She did mention something about that but she didn't know why you were going."

"Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of when I found out what happened to all the Airbenders and it's customary to hold a memorial either at a shrine at the temples or ones scattered across the world. There's no one left to perform those rites just me but I'm not sure I remember them enough. I don't want to disappoint them by getting it wrong, they deserve to be remembered in the way our culture and traditions but I'm afraid I will."

Gran Gran nodded understandingly; the boy was obviously deeply troubled by the fact that he was the last of his kind. Yes, he was worried about making sure the rituals were performed the way they should be but that was only the tip of the iceberg. His fears and doubts went deeper than that.

"There's more, isn't there, child?"

"Yes," said Aang before sighing heavily. "I'm the only one left, I'm the only one keeping the culture of the Air Nomads alive but what happens after me?"

"That, I do not know. No one knows what will happen after we are gone, not even the Avatar. There is nothing you can to change the past, what's done is done. What matters is how you respond to what is at hand, perhaps you are the last of your people but you can make sure that the stories, history and traditions are not lost by sharing them. As for getting the memorial rites correct let me say this," said Gran Gran as she gently lifted Aang's chin so that his eyes looked into her eyes, "the monks you raised you, Aang, would be proud of you, very proud of you, even if you did not do everything perfectly. They will appreciate you trying, that much is for sure."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, now let's go back inside and try to get some sleep shall we? I imagine that you have some preparations that you need to take care or and I'm sure that you'll want to spend some time with Katara and Sokka."

"Yeah, I would," answered Aang as she blushed at the mere mention of Katara's name, Gran Gran smiled knowingly. "Oh Gran Gran?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for the special dinner."

"Anytime, child, anytime. Now it's time for both of us to get some sleep, don't you think?"

Aang nodded and at the start of the hallway they parted ways.

* * *

Aang woke feeling refreshed and ready for the day despite only getting a few hours of peaceful sleep, the talk with Gran Gran really helped calm his nerves. Aang looked around and saw that Sokka was currently only halfway on his bed, Aang had no idea how Sokka could sleep comfortably in that position. In fact, Aang had no idea how Sokka could still be asleep when there were so many fun things they could be doing right now. It had been a while since Aang had gotten a vacation from politicians, meetings and various documents that he had to read and sign because he was the Avatar. So Aang did the most logical thing, he threw a pillow at Sokka. For his part, Sokka wasn't expecting to be attacked by a pillow so he promptly fell off his bed in an undignified heap.

"Why hello, Aang, good morning to you too," said Sokka dryly, raising an eyebrow at his young friend.

"Morning Sokka," replied Aang brightly as he tried to control his laughter, "want to go penguin sliding later?"

"Uh, sure but first let's get breakfast, I'm starving."

"You're always starving," quipped Aang.

Sokka was in the middle of coming up with a retort but the smell of food distracted him enough for Aang to slip by him. At the table were Katara, Master Pakku and Gran Gran but Hakoda was no where in sight.

"Hakoda had an early meeting that he had to attend," said Gran Gran answering Aang's unasked question.

Aang simply nodded as he leaned down to give Katara a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down next to her. Sokka pretended to not notice the kiss as he sat down across from Aang.

"So what are your plans for today?"

"Well, I wanted to see if Katara and Sokka wanted to go penguin sliding for a bit but then I need to get some things together for my trip to the temple."

"There are some things that I promised to help Master Pakku with first so if you two want, you can go ahead and I'll meet up with you later."

"Are you sure, Katara?"

"Yes, spend some time with Sokka, maybe you can stop him from being moping all the time."

"I do not mope."

"Uh, yeah, Sokka, you do," countered Katara. While the two siblings bickered Master Pakku and Gran Gran just shook their heads before shooting each other amused grins, this was a daily ritual at the breakfast table.

"Do you have everything you need for your journey, Aang?" asked Master Pakku.

Aang nodded, "I think so; before I left the Fire Nation I packed some stuff."

"Well, if there is anything else that you need please, don't hesitate to ask," said Gran Gran warmly.

After breakfast, they all went their separate ways. Master Pakku and Katara went to oversee some more construction while Aang and Sokka went looking for the penguins. They found them just outside the south wall and after almost two hours of chasing penguins, having snowball fights and just generally goofing off Aang and Sokka trooped back to the igloo to get dry. After they had changed into dry clothes and gotten some warm liquids into their systems Sokka finally broached the subject that they discussed last night.

"Hey, Aang?"

"Yes, Sokka?"

"What exactly are you going to do at the Air Temple?" asked Sokka slowly.

Aang put down his mug and looked at Sokka who was looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. "I'm going to pay my respects to the monks and everyone who lived in the temples. No one gave them a proper funeral or a proper memorial service so I'm going to."

"Oh. You know, Aang, if you want either of us to go with you for, you know, support we can. We'd be happy to go with you."

Aang smiled at his friend gratefully. "I know but this is something that I think I have to do on my own right now."

"I understand but just so you know, we're all here for you Aang. If you ever need to talk…"

"I know, thanks, Sokka that means a lot."

* * *

After spending some more time with Sokka Aang excused himself so that he could look for Katara. Sokka went to look for his dad because they were also going to go over some rebuilding plans. Aang found her taking a break with the other benders. It looked like they had gotten a lot of work done since Katara and Master Pakku left that morning. From the looks of it they were reinforcing the foundation to one of the new buildings that had been built since the arrival of the Northern Water Tribe members. Now Katara and Sokka's home resembled the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka was certainly pleased by the drastic change and everyone else was growing more and more used to it, well, everyone except Gran Gran.

"Hey, Katara, are you guys finished?"

"Hi, Aang," said Katara brightly, "yeah, we're done, just hold on one minute. Is it okay if I go now? Do you need me for anything?" she asked addressing Master Pakku.

"No, go and enjoy the rest of your day, Katara. We're all done for the day. In fact, why don't all of you go and enjoy the rest of your day as well."

None of the Waterbenders needed to be told twice and before long they had all gone their separate ways. Aang and Katara were holding hands as they strolled down the street and Katara showed Aang all the new buildings and structures that had sprang up in her small village. Neither of them took any notice of the bystanders who were whispering as they walked by. Soon they reached the turn that would lead them to Katara's favorite spot in the whole village.

"Come on, Aang," said Katara in an excited tone as she dragged Aang down the path.

"Where are we going, Katara?"

"You'll see," she called over her shoulder. Aang shrugged and let his girlfriend lead him; it's not as if he had anything to worry about. He was sure that Katara had something in mind and even if she didn't at least he got to spend some alone time with her.

"So….are we almost there?" asked Aang after they had been walking for almost fifteen minutes.

"Actually, we're here now," said Katara stepping back so that Aang could get a good look at the alcove she had lead him to. It was small and even in the clearing that they were standing in unless you knew what to look for it was easy to overlook the indentations that looked like benches covered by a natural roof ice.

"How did you know about this spot, Katara?"

"I found it when I was younger; it's my favorite spot in the entire village. I used to come here a lot, especially after my mom died"

Aang nodded. "I can see why you like this place so much, it's beautiful and peaceful."

"It is, isn't? I'm glad you like it, it's something that I've wanted to show for quite some time you know."

"Wow, Katara, I'm really touched, I don't know what to say" said Aang as he gazed in wonder at his girlfriend.

"Then don't say anything," said Katara closing the distance between them. The kiss was gentle but there was an underlying current of desire. Finally after weeks of separation they were finally together alone. Aang snaked one of his arms around Katara's waist, bring her closer and deepening the kiss. After what seemed like an eternity the two finally parted. They smiled, foreheads touching, it had been a while since they had shared a kiss like that.

"I'm really glad Sokka isn't around to see that," said Aang with a laugh.

Katara chuckled, Sokka may have accepted them as a couple but he still didn't like to see them acting so affectionate towards each other. "Yeah, you're right. It's a good thing that I'm the only one, besides you, who knows about this spot then, isn't it?"

Aang nodded before taking a seat on the bench. All he wanted to do was relax right now and enjoy being with Katara, he didn't want to think about tomorrow. Katara took note of Aang's sudden change in mood as she sat down next to him and place her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm just thinking about stuff."

"About tomorrow?" questioned Katara. When he didn't answer she knew that she had hit the nail on the head. "Aang, you know that you don't have to go through this alone, right?" she asked looking up at him. Aang looked straight ahead, staring at something off in the distance. "We'll be there for you, always. I know that you want to do this on your own and I respect that but just know that we're here, okay? If you ever want to talk about it or anything else then you can talk to us, we'll listen." Aang laced his and Katara's fingers together and the two of them sat in a comfortable, albeit, heavy silence.

* * *

"So, do you have everything, Aang?" asked Katara as Aang readied Appa for the journey the following morning.

"Yup, I just checked."

"Stop by before you go back to the Fire Nation."

"Of course."

"Promise?"

Aang stopped what he was doing and looked down at Katara. Katara stared up at him with worried eyes and Aang immediately jumped down from Appa's back pulling her into a reassuring hug.

"Promise, you know I couldn't leave without saying good-bye to you. I'll be back by nightfall," he said reassuring her with a kiss. As soon as Katara released him he jumped onto Appa's back and took up the reins. "Appa, yip yip!" Katara and the others watched as Appa and Aang became small pinpricks in the sky.

The skies were clear so Aang could see the Southern Air Temple in the distance long before he had actually arrived. From the sky the temple and its grounds look exactly the same as it did last years, Aang wonders why he expected them to look any different. After all, there is no one left to tend the grounds, there hasn't been for over 100 years. After locating a place that was not overgrown Aang signaled Appa to descend, before he going to the shrine the funeral rites must be performed. What Aang had told Sokka was true, no one had been left to perform a proper funeral so it was his duty to perform one. After making sure that Appa and Momo were comfortable Aang made his way towards the inner sanctum of the temple, stopping at the statue of Monk Gyatso. Aang place the sack down next to Gyatso's statue, he didn't want to lose it during the first part of today. Aang knew that he would have to make a funeral pyre because he had found the remains of his old mentor and friend. He wasn't sure if there other remains around and frankly, he didn't want to know. Finding one skeleton was hard enough, even if it has been a year, finding more would be unbearable. Still, Aang knew that he had to search for others; he had made up his mind hat he was going to do this properly. Steeling himself for what was to come, Aang began his search.

Almost three hours later Aang had built a funeral pyre for the remains of the monks and novices that he had found. The few remains of Fire Nation soldiers he found he disposed of in disgust. He placed the remains on the top covered with a shroud that he had also packed in the sack, now all he had to do was light the pyre. Taking a deep breathe Aang raised his palms and shot a controlled stream of fire at the pyre. As the flames licked at the pyre and the bodies that laid on top Aang took a small bowl of offerings and placed it in front of the funeral pyre before starting to say a prayer that the monks said was said during a funeral. Afterwards Aang bowed his head in silent prayer and contemplation as he waited for fire to burn out leaving only ash.

Once the fire had burned itself out Aang collected the ashes and placed them in the urn he had brought with him. He believed that the shrine would be a perfect resting place for the monks and novices of the temple. Before going down to shrine Aang returned to the statue of Gyatso and dug out a stick of incense. Bowing respectfully Aang lit the incense and said a chant that Gyatso had taught him, his mentor told him that this particular chant was his favorite. After lingering for a couple of more minutes Aang finally picked up the urn and sack, with one last lingering glance at the statue Aang headed off to the shrine.

The shrine was built into the wall that marked the territory of the temple. It was a structure that was off to the side but Aang was surprised to see that plants had not overrun the shrine as much as he had thought. If Aang didn't know about better he would have to assume that someone had tended to the shrine but that was impossible, this particular temple had not seen human habitation in over a century. Once he had removed the few overgrown weeds and cut the vines away he stood back to take in the shrine. The shrine itself was quite simple, three stone statues of the spirits and the sky bison that were precious to the Air Nomads stood on a high self in the back of the carved out chamber while lower shelves held candles, incense and offerings. On the next shelf below the statues Aang noticed a small lacquered box. Under any other circumstances Aang would have taken no notice of the small box but unlike the other objects on the shelf it looked like a recent acquisition for the shrine. His curiosity getting the better of him, Aang picked up the small, rectangular box and opened the lid and found a rolled up piece parchment. What Aang found written on the parchment was part of a verse that he had heard from the monks years ago.

_Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own!_

_We shall be like bright gods feeding on happiness._

Intrigued Aang pocketed the parchment and box before placing the urn in its place. He then lit the candle he had placed next to the urn and placed the rest of the offerings on the shelf below. Backing away from the shrine Aang lit a stick of incense before bowing deeply and saying a quiet prayer. When Aang straightened up he noticed something white caught on the ledge of the wall. After jumping up and grabbing the object Aang took a close look at the item in his hands. It was a cylinder frame with the outside covered with rice paper, in the center there was a holder that held a skinny white candle. Aang had never seen anything like it before; in all his time at the temple they never had paper lanterns. He had also never seen them at the Fire Nation or in his travels around the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribes. As Aang studied the lantern he found that the paper still had integrity and it wasn't yellowed with age, it was pristine white as if it had been deposited recently. Who would visit an Air Temple? To the rest of the world his people were dead and their temples were nothing more than abandoned relics. The Air Nomads were nothing more than footnotes in history, remembered only as the Fire Nation's first victims. No one would visit an Air Temple, there was no reason too.

That questioned plagued Aang as he made the journey back to the South Pole.

* * *

The part of the verse comes from the Dhammapada, a collection of verses attributed to the Buddha.

Reviews and constructive criticisms would be welcomed.


	4. Taking a Break

A/N: Okay so I'm not to thrilled with this chapter but I needed to get them from one setting to another so this is mostly a bridge chapter.

* * *

_Chapter 3 – Taking a Break_

_3 weeks before the one year anniversary of the war_

"Is that the last one for the day?" asked Aang wearily, his head resting on his arms.

"Yes," said Zuko equally as tired before following Aang's example. It had been a long day of meetings, debates, planning sessions and treaty signings.

"Good."

After Aang's trip to the Air Temple he had returned with Sokka and Katara in tow. Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi warriors arrived a week later along with Toph who was much more irritable than usual. The four of them were now staying in the Fire Nation palace with Aang, Zuko and Mai. They were now helping the peace process from a political angle. Aang, Zuko and Mai were grateful for the help but they still carried most of the burden because the officials and emissaries were used to them and knew how to work with them.

"Long day?" asked a voice from the doorway. Aang and Zuko looked up to see Suki standing in the doorframe looking at them thoughtfully.

"Yes," replied both in unison.

"You don't need to tell me, you two have been holed up in here for hours. It's almost midnight you know."

"What?" exclaimed the two teenagers jumping up from their seats. They had promised their girlfriends that they were going to spend some quality time with them but Katara and Mai had probably stopped waiting for them and had gone to bed instead. "Are they mad at us?" asked the two of them sheepishly.

"Um, well," began Suki and the two groan. "They weren't exactly thrilled," she continued, "but in the end they understand. You two have a lot of responsibility, more than the rest of us even. They just wish that they could see you two more often, how can the hero get the girl when he never sees her?" Aang and Zuko looked at each other confused but before they could question Suki about her previous comment she plowed on. "Look, the bottom line is, they miss spending time with you. Well, it's late so I'm going to go to bed; I suggest you two do the same." Suki promptly turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall leaving the two benders with confusion and unanswered questions.

* * *

When Aang and Zuko arrived at the breakfast table Sokka handed Zuko a letter that had arrived that morning for him.

_Dear Nephew,_

_I have heard of how busy you and stressed you have been this past year and I propose a solution for you. I have some friends who own a very nice inn in Kao, they are inviting you and your friends to spend a week there to relax and recharge. Now before you say no, Nephew, hear me out. Kao is a small, exclusive beach resort area and there will be few people to bother you. The locals are all quite polite and make the privacy of important guests a top priority. It would do you all some good to spend some time away from the palace. If you decide to take my friends up on their offer I will come to the Fire Nation to help oversee things in your absence._

_Love,_

_Uncle_

Zuko handed the note to Aang and the letter soon made its rounds around the table. After everyone had had a chance to read it and someone had told Toph what it contained Zuko asked their opinion.

"Well, what do you guys think?"

"A break would be nice, especially for you and Aang," said Suki, "You two have been locked in meetings day and night for the past six months."

"Yeah, you and Twinkles Toes have been really hard to reach for almost two months now and normally this wouldn't be a problem but Sugar Queen and Sunshine," at that Toph jerked her thumb in Katara and Mai's general direction, "are being more annoying than usual. So please, say yes to your uncle."

"Toph, I have not been that annoying."

"Hate to break to you sis, you have been _really_ annoying lately, more than usual."

"Sokka!"

"But it's true!"

"Mai, you honestly can't let Toph say that about you, can you?" implored Katara in hopes of getting an ally.

Mai stopped twirling one of her shurikens and looking at Katara with a semi-bored expression on her face. "Well, I have been missing spending time with Zuko," she replied airily.

"Oh I give up," huffed Katara.

"So, Twinkle Toes, what you think of the invitation?" asked Toph turning towards him.

"I don't know," replied Aang honestly. "It's very generous of Iroh to extend it to us but there is still so much work to, we still have meetings to go to, dignitaries to meet and pressing problems that need solutions."

"Are they so pressing that they can't wait one week?"

"Um, um, I don't know?" replied Aang looking at Zuko for some support.

"Look, we could all use some time to relax. You two could _definitely_ benefit from some time away from the palace. Zuko, your uncle is saying that he'll come here to watch things for a week. He's saying that he'll _close_ his tea shop for _one week_, doesn't that tell you anything? He's worried about you."

"You know, maybe they have a point. A short break wouldn't be horrible. I know that I really don't want to spend another day in that meeting room. What about you, Zuko?"

"If I have to spend another minute in a room with another politician I might end up strangling one."

"So is that a yes?" asked their friends. Aang and Zuko nodded their heads.

"Yes!"

* * *

As always, reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome.


	5. Familiar

_Chapter 4 – Familiar_

_2 weeks before the one year anniversary of the war_

When they finally arrived at Kao all doubts about taking a vacation on such short notice were quickly erased. As Iroh had promised Kao was a small beach resort town that was almost a full day's journey from the next biggest town, they wouldn't need to worry about privacy here. The inn itself was situated on top of a hill that overlooked the half-moon shaped bay and the inn grounds were spacious, beautiful and meticulously kept. From the air they could see that the inn was a large complex that while simple was also quite elegant looking. The innkeeper and his wife were waiting for them near the barn; they had gotten word that their guests would be arriving by flying bison.

"Welcome, Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang," greeted the innkeeper and his wife bowing before them. "Welcome to our inn, I am Shen and this is my wife Aiko, we are honored to have you as our guests."

"Thank you for your hospitality," replied Zuko bowing in return. "These are our friends, Mai, Toph, Katara, Suki and Sokka. This is the Avatar's bison, Appa, and his lemur, Momo."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," said Aiko warmly. "I hope your trip wasn't very long."

"It wasn't a very long trip and besides, we're used to it by now."

"Speak for yourself, Sugar Queen."

"Don't mind Toph, she's not a fan of flying," replied Katara whiling shooting the younger girl a look that, after thinking about it, was certainly pointless considering that Toph was blind.

Aiko smiled. "That's quite alright dear; I'm not a fan of certain types of transportation myself. Now if you have any luggage my daughter, Kohana, and I will be happy to assist you. Avatar Aang, my husband will show you where Appa can stay."

Aang nodded and followed the older man to a stable not far from where they had landed. The rest of the group picked up their packs while Aiko and her daughter moved to help them with the rest. Aiko's daughter, Kohana, had appeared while they had been talking so the group had not had a chance to meet her properly. Kohana looked like she was about 20, average height and tanned from time spent outside. She wore a spring green iromuji and had her hair up in an elegant bun. The group got closer to the inn and it was easier to see how large the main building actually was. Despite being only two stories high it was sprawling with a rambling porch. The doorway eaves had intricate and elegant carvings.

"Your inn is very beautiful," said Katara to Kohana, Aiko had gone ahead with Mai and Zuko.

"Thank you," replied Kohana graciously. "My parents built this place from the ground up after moving here when I was very young."

"How long ago was that?"

"About 18 years ago."

"You know, as we were flying over your town I couldn't help but notice the lack of visible damage from the war," said Suki.

"We've been very lucky here; Kao is so out of the way that the Fire Nation never really bothered to come here. They have come through our village only twice but each time they did not stay long"

"What made them leave?"

"Let's just say they found it in their best interest to leave quickly," said Kohana refusing to meet either Suki or Katara's eyes instead she walked quickly away from the group. Suki and Katara shrugged before following Kohana with Toph and Sokka.

If they thought that the exterior of the inn was beautiful then the interior could only be described as elegant. Despite the lack of ornate paintings, wall hangings or statues there was still and understated elegance to the interior. The walls and floor of the inn were made with wood that had a deep rich brown-amber color. The hallways were spacious, with enough room for two adults and a child to walk abreast. The lighting in the hallway gave it a cozy feeling. Finally Kohana stopped in front of a wooden door.

"This will be one for one of the young ladies," she said as she turned the knob and stepped back. "Now which one of you would like it?"

"I will!" said Katara before going in and placing her pack on one of the chairs.

"The room across the hall is also for you ladies, so who would like that one?"

"I'll take it," replied Toph as she started to head towards the room.

"Very well," replied Kohana. "Now if you two will follow me I can show you the other rooms."

"What about Zuko, Mai and Aang?"

"My mother has already seen to the rooms for the Fire Lord, Mai and the Avatar. Now please, follow me and I can show you your rooms."

"See you in a few?" asked Suki.

"Definitely," replied Katara with a grin.

Once they had all settled into their respective rooms they had gathered in the spacious foyer of the inn. Zuko was currently sinking into the couch cushions with Mai nestled next to him. Toph was at the other end of the couch and Suki and Sokka were quite cozy where they were sitting. Katara sat in one of the high backed chairs and Aang sat on the window seat. Aang had joined them after he had gotten Appa settled in. Kohana appeared carrying a tea pot and cups on a tray, as she poured tea for each of them they just sat relishing the tranquil silence. After she was done she bowed before leaving them but not before giving them and odd look.

"So what do you guys want to do?"

"I don't know, I'm just enjoying the feeling of doing nothing,"

"I have to agree with Sugar Queen over there. Why don't we just spend some time just doing nothing?"

"I personally like that idea," piped up Sokka. "Let's just relax, it's still early anyway."

An echo of yeahs followed and so the group of teenagers sat in a relaxing silence as they sipped their jasmine tea.

* * *

"How are our guests, Kohana?" asked her mother once she had entered the kitchen to return the tray.

"They are fine mom; they're just a little bit weird."

Aiko had been looking over a form given to her by one of the inn workers but looked up at her daughter. "How so?"

"I don't know, it's just that I thought they all liked each other."

"Iroh assured me that they all did, he even told me that everyone except for the blind Earthbender were a couple."

"Then why aren't they talking to each other?" asked her daughter.

"Iroh mentioned in his letter that his nephew and his friends have been under a lot of stress this past year. You know that the work has not stopped, even if the war has ended, if anything the work to be done has tripled since the end of the war." The young woman nodded, in her few trips to the surrounding Earth Kingdom regions she had seen how the end of the war meant very little to the people displaced by it, they still had no homes and Fire Nation colonialists were still everywhere. "They are probably just enjoying the peace that they probably have not had in months."

"Ma'am, you said you wanted to go over tonight's menu."

"Oh, yes, thank you for reminding me, Chyou. Are there some vegetarian dishes on tonight's menu? The young Avatar apparently does not eat meat."

"We have two dishes at the moment and two more that we are preparing but I am still in need some things before they can be finished."

"Oh dear, Haru has already delivered today's order."

"I'll go, mom."

Aiko nodded, after Chyou handed her a list of necessary ingredients Aiko handed her daughter a pouch full of money and Kohana left after picking up a basket to bring to market.

* * *

The road from the inn to the main market was almost deserted but then again it was early afternoon already, everyone was done with their morning shopping for that day. That didn't stop Aang and his friends though, after a good hour and a half of just relaxing they had decided to take in some sights. Aiko and Shen suggested that they visit the main market as it was also the town square. The few people that they had passed seemed startled that the Fire Lord and the Avatar were in their midst but none made a big scene out of it though a few did bow. The main market square of Kao was like any small village market, stalls and stands selling various foods were stationed all along the street and the vendors were hawking their wares to anyone passing buy. Shops were peppered in between the food stalls and sold various objects. One store that caught Aang's eye was one that had rice paper in its front display. There were also small tea shops and restaurants lining the main square. The center of the square held a beautiful stone fountain and that was where they all agreed to meet after some sight seeing on their own.

Katara and Aang were leisurely strolling down the main boulevard making comments about shops they found interesting. In one shop Katara found a beautiful hairpin that she loved so Aang brought it for her, she later returned the favor by buying him one of his favorite foods. After a while they noticed that their strolling had brought them into the heart of the food stalls. Though the morning rush was now over there were still people buying food for the day, the two lovers assumed that they were the locals who were getting food for tonight's dinner. Ringing laughter from their left drew their attention, its owner was a young girl, no older than Katara, who was busy conversing with one of the venders and laughing occasionally. What caught Aang's interest was the way the girl was dressed. While her dress was definitely of the Earth Kingdom there was something strangely familiar about her, perhaps it could be the way her hair was done. The young girl's hair was gathered at her shoulder blades and placed into a loose bun, a style that he had seen before on female Air Nomads but one he had never seen in the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation or Water Tribes. Aang was so distracted that he didn't see the young girl coming until it was almost too late, while she didn't drop her basket some of her items did fall out. Aang and Katara quickly bent down to help her pick them up. When they had all stood one Aang found something even more startling than her familiar hairstyle—her eyes were gray.

"I'm sorry," replied the young girl hastily as she bowed. "I should watch where I'm going."

"No, no. It was my fault, I should know better than spacing out in a busy market place," replied Aang sheepishly as he bowed as well.

"Well, thank you again and it was a pleasure meeting the Avatar and his companion. Good bye."

Once the girl was gone Aang immediately turned to Katara. "Katara, did you see that?" asked Aang eagerly.

"See what, Aang?" asked Katara confused as to why the young Airbender was so eagerly curious.

"She had gray eyes."

"I did notice that, I thought that was strange because I've never seen gray eyes in the Earth Kingdom before."

"That's because there aren't any in the Earth Kingdom, gray eyes are the mark of Air Nomad blood."

* * *

As the girl with gray eyes made her way out of the main square of the village she met Kohna who was also returning with items for dinner. The two girls fell into step and walked up the road exchanging pieces of village gossip. They looked like good friends and in reality they were, despite the six year age difference. Though at times Kohana felt like the girl's second mother she usually saw the younger girl as her equal in every way. The two young girls shared many things in common but the most striking was a common past.

"You didn't tell me that the Avatar and his companions were staying at your inn," replied the girl with gray eyes casually.

"What makes you think they are staying at our inn?"

"Because I saw the Fire Lord and a young woman, who I assume is his girlfriend, strolling through the streets of our village. He is the nephew of General Iroh and General Iroh is a good friend of your parents."

"Well, you're right Chiyoko, as always," replied Kohana with a chuckle.

"Do they know?" asked Chiyoko quietly.

"No," said Kohana after a pause. "They did want to know why the Fire Nation has only marched on our village twice in the hundred years of war."

"What did you tell them?"

"That the great Fire Nation army saw that it was in their best to leave as quickly as possible."

"Ah, do they suspect anything?"

"No, they don't. Apparently General Iroh didn't share his suspicions with his nephew or the Avatar."

* * *

By the time Aang and Katara had rejoined the rest of their friends at the fountain they had half and hour until sunset. Aiko had told them that dinner would be around seven that evening so they started to make the journey back to the inn.

"So what did you guys do?" asked Sokka.

"Oh we walked around the main square and visited a few shops," replied Katara. "What about you, Sokka, what did you and Suki do?"

"We did some exploring too and I certainly made an impression"

At that Suki snorted. "One of the guys who sold jerky told Sokka that he never wanted to see him again."

"Hey! I brought nearly everything he had!"

"That's because you knocked down his entire stock."

"So Zuko, what did you and Mai do?" asked Aang after everyone had gotten their laughter under control.

"We did some sight seeing as well," supplied Mai.

"That's a pretty necklace Mai," said Katara. Mai looked down at the simple amber colored stone pendant that hung on a thin gold chain. It wasn't the most elaborate piece of jewelry that Mai owned but she loved it anyway.

"Thank you, Katara. Zuko brought it for me while we were sightseeing," said Mai looking at Zuko and smiling.

"Hey Toph, where did you disappear to?" asked Katara.

"I just wandered through the stalls; they have very nice stone streets here, very comfortable and great for seeing. One thing I did find weird was that there are a lot of people who are as light on their feet as Twinkle Toes here."

"What do you mean?"

"They hardly make any vibrations. It was weird."

"You don't say," said Katara. She quickly glanced at Aang but he was lost in thought.

* * *

As always, reviews are welcome!


	6. Survivors

_Chapter 5 – Survivors_

The dinner has been delicious and lively, Shen and his family had joined then and they had spent almost three hours laughing and exchanging stories. By the time they had all said goodnight it was nearing midnight. It was definitely past midnight now and no one was awake except Aang. He was sitting on a cushion in the middle of the floor staring at two objects in front of him. One of the objects was the rectangular lacquered box he had taken from the Southern Air Temple and the other was something he had found in one of the Fire Nation storerooms when he was looking for the monk robes Zuko had told he saw before. He had found two leather-bound books sitting in a box in a dusty corner of the storeroom; they were a collection of scrolls all pertaining to the Air Nomad culture. Zuko and Aang assumed that they had been gathered by the fire sages many years ago when the world was still at peace and Air Nomads visited the Fire Nation. While they proved to be interesting to Zuko he had no need for them but he knew that Aang would treasure them so after the coronation Zuko gave them to Aang and told him that these books along with the robes he was wearing were his from now on.

Since that time Aang had looked through the books so many times that he knew many of the scrolls by heart. The Air Nomads did indeed keep a written history but the majority of the scrolls were not from them, instead, they were accounts written by people who, for varying lengths of time, had lived among the Air Nomads and wished to show their countrymen how these spiritual people lived. Aang picked up the book on top and flipped to the desired page before laying it flat on the ground letting the moonlight spill across the page. This particular page was almost completely taken up by a drawing of what looked like a temporary village, the artist had not written anything besides the date, the place and his signature. The scene on the page showed what Aang could only assume was daily life in such temporary villages. He had never gotten to visit one before and now he would never get that chance. Typically when an Airbender was 16 or 17 he or she left the temples and lived outside the temples because the monks and nuns thought that such experience and growth would ultimately help them pass the last levels of airbeinding, which were the hardest. In this particular scene that was a female Airbender master would looked like she was helping train some novices. What Aang noticed was how the female Airbenders wore their hair, some let their hair hang free with only a thin headband keeping it out of their eyes but some wore it in the style like the gray-eyed girl he saw in the market. After some more examination Aang decided that wearing your hair in a loose bun at your shoulder blades must be something some of the younger Airbenders do because the Airbenders that looked as old as Aiko and Shen's daughter wore their hair free like the master. That still didn't solve the mystery of the girl in the market though. Everyone had told him that all the Air Nomads had been killed but was it possible that some escaped? Aang rubbed his temples, it was getting late and he was no where near solving the mystery of the girl in the market or the lacquered box he found at the Air Temple but at the moment Aang was too tired to care. His tiredness was catching up with him so put away the objects and was asleep before his head had even hit the pillow.

* * *

The next morning Aang could be found in the barn giving Appa his morning meal and brushing his fur, he didn't get the chance to do that yesterday. He was still no where close to figuring out the secrets of the girl from the market or the lacquered box but he couldn't help but think that they were somehow connected. Perhaps he should visit the market again today, she might be there again and maybe Aang could get some answers to his questions.

"There you are, we were wondering where you had gotten to."

Aang looked up to see Katara walking towards him. "Hey, Katara."

"What are you doing here? I thought that Shen was going to give Appa his meal," she said as she patted Appa, Appa gave her a please grunt in response.

"No, I told Shen that I would do it."

"Well, that was nice of you. Hey listen, so we were all thinking that we wanted to do some exploring; Aiko told us that the scenery here was beautiful and that we should check it out. Want to come?"

"Sure," replied Aang placing down the brush he was using on Appa. "Just let change first."

"Sure thing, I'll be waiting along with the others," Katara told him as she trailed him back to the inn's main building.

Once Aang had reappeared they got ready to go but not before the inn's cook, Chyou, handed them a basket of food. When they looked at her confused she replied that many guests would go exploring and miss lunch so after awhile she had started to prepare meals in advance incase. After thanking her, the group made their way east towards a trail that apparently would offer a beautiful view of the village. After almost an hour of hiking they finally reached the meadow and they were not disappointed, the view definitely lived up to all the hype. By the time they had reached the meadow it was almost mid afternoon so they decided to eat their lunch as they took in the view.

"Aang!"

Aang turned to see Katara and Sokka looking at him questioningly.

"Let me guess, you didn't hear anything I just said, did you?" asked Sokka dryly.

"No, I'm sorry, Sokka. I was just distracted," responded Aang. "Sorry, won't happen again."

"You seem to be distracted a lot lately," observed Katara. "Something you want to talk about?"

Aang shook his head. "No, it's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

"If you're sure," replied Katara unconvinced.

Before Katara could question Aang any further Zuko and Mai reappeared. Aang had not noticed that they had even left yet apparently they had. As Mai sat down Aang spied small white flowers tucked behind her ear, Aang supposed that Zuko gave them to her but decided not to say anything. Zuko was good many things but romantic gestures was not one of them and pointing out ever small romantic gesture he did would probably mean he'd stop doing that. If there was one thing Aang didn't want was a pissed of Mai, her throws were scarily accurate that even he had a hard time evading all of her shuriken.

"Find anything interesting?" asked Katara as she looked for something in her pack.

"Not really but the view is quite nice," replied Zuko before he lay down on the blanket. "It's nice here though, relaxing. It's good to have a break from meetings, politicians and document readings. I'm glad we came."

"Me too," replied Mai looking down at her boyfriend with a smile.

At that moment Aang stood up, his legs were getting cramped. "I'm going to stretch my legs for a bit."

"Sure thing, Aang. Hey, if you see Suki or Toph tell them we're looking for them."

Aang nodded before heading off. This meadow brought back so many memories for Aang that he just wanted to be alone to sort them all out. As Aang looked out around him he let his mind wander to simpler days, before his world had been turned upside down. Meadows like this surrounded the Southern Air Temple; twice a week the monks took the children down there to work on some airbending moves that needed wide expanses of space. Those days were some of Aang's favorite but once it was revealed that he was the Avatar he was no longer able to participate in those exercises, instead, he was relegated to individual training by the monks. Monk Gyatso knew how much Aang missed doing things with other children his own age and while he couldn't make the other children include Aang in their activities he could give some semblance of normalcy; so sometimes he would sneak Aang out of the temple in the middle of the night to let the young boy just be that, a young boy.

With the war finally over and the peace finally getting a stronger footing in the world Aang had time to think of everything that he had learned in the past year and half and everything that had transpired as well. He had never given much thought about what it meant to be the lone survivor of a decimated race, there just wasn't time but now, now all he had was time. What he had told Gran Gran back at the South Pole was true; he worried a lot about what would happen once he was gone. As the Avatar it was his duty to not just bring peace to the world but also balance, how could he do that when one of the four nations was missing? How could the Avatar cycle continue? He wondered if any of the previous Avatars could be of any help, after all, they weren't that much help when he struggled with the decision about Ozai's final fate. However, if Aang couldn't ask them for advice then who could he ask? As much as he cared for the others and knew that they would be there for him he also knew that none of them could truly understand, not even Katara, Sokka or Zuko. While they had lost someone very dear to them it was not the same as losing everything and everyone who was familiar to you in one fell swoop and then learning about it years after it had happened. Sighing, Aang decided to give it a try, after all, what harm could it do? After making himself comfortable Aang took up his meditative pose and focused on emptying his mind of all the turmoil that swirled inside.

"Hello, Aang."

Aang opened his eyes to find the kindly yet elderly face of Avatar Roku staring back at him. Aang visible perked up. "Hi, Roku."

"What troubles you, Aang?" asked the spirit of the previous Avatar as he studied how the young boy fidgeted.

"I've just been thinking about what will happen once I am gone."

"Our reincarnation will be from the Water Tribe but that is not what you wanted to know, is it?"

"As the Avatar is my duty to restore balance to the world but how do I do that if all the Airbenders are gone? What happens when the cycle come back to air?"

Roku does not meet Aang's eyes for a moment. Here was another reminder of how he had failed. Truthfully Roku did not know how to answer Aang's question, there wasn't a clear cut answer to give him. The only thing Roku was sure of was that the spirits would find a way to help Aang restore balance to a battle-scarred world. How they planned on doing that, however, was up for debate so he chose his words carefully.

"Things," he began slowly, "are not always as hopeless as they seem. The answers you seek will present themselves to you when you least expect them."

"But what does that mean?"

"I'm sorry that I can't be much help to you, Aang. What I have told you is all that I know the rest you will have to figure out on your own," replied Roku sadly as he disappeared back into the spirit world.

When Aang opened his eyes again he was back in the physical world. He sighed, well that wasn't much of a help. Roku hadn't given him any answers; in fact, he gave him more questions. For a brief moment Aang wondered vaguely if asking one of the other incarnations would be helpful but he decided against it. He had chosen Roku because Roku was the only other who was as closely linked to the war as he was. Looking up at the sky the young Airbender saw that the sun was already making its journey westward, he had lingered in the spirit world longer than he had anticipated. It was time to return to the group before they got too worried about him.

* * *

Upon his return Aang found that Zuko, Mai, Sokka and Suki had all fallen asleep with their respective partners, even Toph was asleep. Apparently he had been gone longer than he knew. There was one person missing though, Aang couldn't find _his_ respective partner, a quick look at the area around their blanket told him that she was not there. Before Aang could head off looking for Katara she appeared next to him. Aang guessed that she had been down at little inlet beach they had passed on the way to the meadow.

"There you are," she said smiling. "I was going to go looking for you if you weren't back by the time I returned."

"How long was I gone for?"

"An hour or two, Suki and Toph returned about ten minutes after you left. Where did you go?"

"I just went off to think."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I just wanted to sort through some things and I had a little talk with Avatar Roku about it."

"Oh, does it have to do with the day you visited the Southern Air Temple?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Aand didn't answer immediately and Katara was afraid that he would never answer her. "Maybe tomorrow, I want to go through what Roku said to me first, okay?

Katara nodded. "Sure thing," she replied softly. "Listen, we should probably wake them up now, we still have to walk back to the inn."

* * *

Aang kept stealing furtive glimpses at Katara as they made their way back to the inn; she hadn't said more than five words to him since they had woken up the rest of the group. He knew that she was at the very least frustrated with him because she felt as if he was keeping her out of something that obviously was important to him and in reality that was the truth. H didn't mean to keep her out but pondering the future of the Air Nomads when there seemed to be no more left but him was something that would take him some time to sort through. In truth what Aang didn't want was Katara's, or anyone else's, pity, his friends would mean well that he knew but he knew that the pity would be there, lurking, the large sky bison in the room that people refused to acknowledge. The monks had taught him that dwelling on what he could not change accomplished nothing and since he had been freed he took that lesson to heart and now was not the time to deviate from that. Perhaps Katara would be mad at him but before he talked to her he wanted to have a direction because the future was the only thing that he could have an impact on.

Their uneventful walk back was suddenly interrupted the sounds of a struggle that was happening ahead of them. A quick glance around showed that all were in favor so the gang took off ready to help. As they drew closer three distinct voices could be heard, two male and one female. When they rounded the bend they saw the source of the commotion and the owners of the voices in the middle of a field. The two men were advancing towards the lone female but as they soon learned she was quite capable of holding her own against them. Two hira-shirukens came flying with faultless accuracy came flying towards the closer man knocking him off balance long enough for her to put more space between herself and the man still standing. Toph, Katara and Mai quickly restrained the man who had been hit by the hira-shirukens leaving the others to help the young girl. In the time that had elapsed the young girl had apparently tripped and was scrambling to get away but before the others could reach her she had found a branch on the ground and swung it in an arch knocking the man down even the branch never touched him because he was still a good fifteen feet away. It was in that moment that the young girl seemed to realize that she was not alone and before any of them could stop her she took off towards the trees.

"Hey, don't run away! We only want to help!" yelled Aang as he broke away from the others in an attempt to catch her. The girl gave Aang a quick backwards glance before turning slightly to her left and swinging the branch she was still holding in a small arc that sent a sickle-shaped strong gust of wind towards him and the rest knocking him, Sokka, Zuko and Suki down with a groan. The last they saw of her was a quick flash of green as she disappeared into the woods.

"Just to make sure, you guys all saw and felt that, right?" asked Sokka breaking the stunned silence.

"Yes, we did," responded Zuko slowly looking at a confused and shocked Aang. "She just used airbending. This village just got very interesting."

"Uh, guys? Before we get ahead of ourselves shouldn't we deal with those two first before anything else?" asked Suki jerking her head towards the two men that were now tied up.

"Oh yeah, we should," replied Aang mechanically as he got up wincing slightly.

"Suki, are you okay?" asked a slightly alarmed Sokka. Aang looked over to Suki who was slightly bent over with an evident look of concern on his face. Zuko and Aang quickly walked over to the two of them and they were quickly joined by Toph, Katara and Mai.

"I'm fine, Sokka," answered Suki straightening up. "I just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all. I just need a minute. Whoever that girl was, she knew exactly what to do to make her escape."

"But you're sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Sokka, I'm fine. We should bring these two to the village square," she said and then pointed to the two men that were now trying to fight their bindings.

"What were you two doing?" demanded Zuko with authority.

"She was supposed to be an easy target, she was all alone but that girl is a witch," answered one of the men while his partner glared daggers at him.

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well you saw her; she knocked us all down without even touching us. That's witchcraft, boy."

Zuko look over at Aang who shrugged his shoulders in response. Obviously the idea that the girl could be an Airbender never occurred to the men.

"Come on, we should turn them over to the local authorities," called Katara.

The gang arrived at the police station in record time. The chief, needless to say, was surprised to see the Fire Lord and the Avatar burst into his station with two men tied up. After explaining what the men had been up to when the chief quickly put the two men in jail.

"So what's going to happen to them?"

"Well, we're going to transfer them to Fujian, they are better equipped to handle them there," answered the chief as he read over the statements.

"But what about the girl?" asked Sokka shocked by the chief's reponse.

"Look, son, we do things differently here. We're a small, quiet village and from your description I know exactly who you're talking about. I'll go over tomorrow to talk to her and ask her if there is anything she wants to add before these two men are sent off."

"So you know what girl threw these?" asked Mai holding out the hira-shirukens to the chief.

"Yes," re replied after only looking at them briefly. "Not many know how to use those things and only a few know how to use them well. Natsumi's oldest daughter is the best at it."

"We should try to find this girl," stated Aang once they were outside and out of earshot of the station.

"But Aang, how are we going to do that?" asked Katara reasonably.

"Simple, we'll just ask around."

"I know that this place is small, Twinkle Toes, but it's not _that_ small. Besides, wouldn't it seem sort of suspicious of we go around asking who throws those things?"

Aang stopped, he hadn't considered the details, and all he knew was that he _needed_ to talk to the girl. The chief had grown slightly suspicious when he had pressed the man for more information and he and his friends soon found themselves back out on the streets. Past experience had shown him that suspicions spread like wildfire in small villages and that he wouldn't be able to get any answers once news got out. Before Aang could even begin to formulate a plan they passed by two middle-aged women who were conversing and one name stuck out _Natsumi_.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt but I couldn't help overhear the name Natsumi."

"Oh, it's alright dear, yes, we were talking about Natsumi Kasuga, the owner of the Kasuga Inn," replied one of the women.

"Do you know where it is?"

"Why do you ask? Are you an old friend?" asked the same woman.

"Obviously he can't be, Sachi, he's just a child."

"Well, perhaps he's the son of one of her friends," responded the other woman. "Well, are you the son of one of her friends?" demanded the woman turning to Aang.

"You could say that," answered Aang evasively hoping that they wouldn't ask him any more questions and just give him the inn directions already.

"The inn is up on the hill past the Shinotsuka inn. You can't miss it," the woman called Sachi told Aang.

"Thank you," he told them bowing.

* * *

The house was quiet when she opened up the back door slowly. It looked like there was no one around as she quickly made her way to the bathroom to clean up, her luck held out as she stole away to her room to change her dirtied clothes. With any luck her family would not know of her run in with the ruffians. She had just finished changing into a simple Earth Kingdom dress and combing her hair when she heard the front door slam. The dirty clothes had just disappeared to the bottom of her hamper as she heard small feet running down the hall.

"Chiyoko! Where are you?"

Chiyoko gave a sigh of relief, it was only Miki. She opened her door and poked her head out. "I'm here, Miki, what is it?"

"Chiyoko, mama's been looking for you. Miho needs some help in the kitchen"

"Come on, let's go then," Chiyoko replied shutting her bedroom door and following her younger sister to the front door. They both stopped briefly to put on their shoes before heading out.

Their home lay near the border of their property, a few hundred feet away was their inn. Their inn was not very big but they had enough business to live comfortably.

"Mama, I found her," called Miki as she and Chiyoko entered the kitchen.

"Thank you, Miki," replied their mother as she turned her attention to her two daughters. "Miki, go find Lan, she could use some help." Miki nodded before running off to find her favorite maid. Now Natsumi turned her attention to her eldest daughter. "Chiyko," she began, "where were you? I thought you said that you wouldn't be gone long."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to, I just lost track of time," replied Chiyoko as she re secured her jade hairpin that kept her hair out of her face.

Natsumi studied her eldest daughter; fifteen years told her that she daughter was hiding something from her. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I told you, I just lost track of time."

"That may be but there's more to it than that."

"No, there isn't."

"Yes, there is. Now once again, _what aren't you telling me_?"

"On my way back I ran into these two guys, they were just petty robbers."

"Chiyoko," said her mother with both concern and frustration evident in her voice.

"Look, it wasn't a big deal, mom. I can handle myself, I got away."

"Tell me you didn't," her mother said with a slight groan.

"Well, it was the only way I could make my escape," replied her daughter defiantly.

"Chiyoko, we've talked about this, you know that you shouldn't do that. How else can we keep a low profile if you keep doing things like this?" asked her mother exasperated.

"Relax, mom, those guys think it was witchcraft."

"What?"

"I heard them talking to the people who found them, they think that I'm a witch."

"Chiyoko, we'll discuss this later. In the meantime, please help Miho with preparing dinner." Natsumi left through the dining room door, she was getting a headache. The war may have ended but it still wasn't safe, why couldn't Chiyoko understand that?

* * *

They stood outside looking at the small establishment in front of them. It was much smaller than the one that they were staying at but its reputation was just as good. According to the locals, this inn and the small restaurant attached to it was a local hangout, locals could often be found enjoying a meal there everyday. They had decided before their arrival they had decided to go to the restaurant first, perhaps they would get lucky and find her enjoying a small meal, at any rate the restaurant provided them with an excuse to visit this place. They obviously weren't going to check into this inn so to avoid unwarranted suspicion the restaurant was the better pick.

Upon their entry they found that the dining area wasn't really crowded, an elderly woman was the only other customer. Possibly it was too early for the dinner rush. A young girl came out from the kitchen holding a small tray made a beeline for the old woman.

"Here you go, Mrs. Nikaido. Is there anything else you want?" asked the young girl as she poured some more oolong tea into her cup.

"No, I'm fine dear. Thank you."

"Okay then, well, I'll just leave this here with you then," she replied placing the teapot on the table. When she turned around she finally noticed the group standing in the doorframe. "Hi, welcome to Kasuga, please come this way," she said gesturing towards a large round table next to a window. "We don't usually get large groups of people this early in the evening." After they were all seated she handed out some menus. "Would you like to start with something to drink?" she asked pleasantly.

"Um, tea would be nice," Zuko said after glancing quickly around at everyone.

"Which would you like? We have green, jasmine, lavender, oolong, black, and white."

"Jasmine and white would be nice, please" answered Katara making sure that everyone was in agreement.

"Very well, I'll be back with that shortly," the waitress said before disappearing back into the kitchen.

After making sure that she was really gone and that Mrs. Nikaido was too occupied they huddled together to discuss their next step. Obviously finding the girl was not going to be as easy as they had thought at first. Aang suggested that they just ask for the proprietor but Zuko quickly shot down that idea saying that it would look quite suspicious. Sokka suggested that they try to snoop but Suki pointed out that that would be a great way to get kicked out. They were still busy discussing their options that they didn't notice the two young girls that came out of the kitchen.

"Excuse me," said one of the girls.

* * *

"Hey, Chiyoko, could you give me a hand with this?"

Chiyoko looked up from where she was chopping up some celery for a soup. "Help with what?"

"Could you just grab that tray of teacups please? This group wants two different teas and the two teapots take up too much room on the tray."

"Sure thing, Asuka, I'm right behind you."

* * *

When they looked up practically all their jaws dropped. They had spent almost ten minutes wondering how to find the girl and here she was standing there holding a tray of teacups.

"Um, okay….."

"So here are your teacups and the tea you wanted, we'll just leave them right now. She'll come back in a bit to take your order," Chiyoko said obviously uncomfortable.

"Wait!" piped up Aang before she could disappear. "I've seen you before. You're the girl from the market and from earlier today."

"I think you've got the wrong girl," answered Chiyoko clearly wishing that she was back in the kitchen

"No, I'm sure of it," Aang persisted. "I've been looking everywhere for you, there's something _really_ important that I have to ask you."

"No, I'm really sure you've got the wrong girl."

"But I know you're her. I'm right, aren't I, Toph?"

"You are, Twinkle Toes," piped up Toph who was clearly enjoying the show.

"Look, I don't know what you want but this can wait until later, okay?" hissed Chiyoko. "This not the time or the—"

"Chiyoko, what's going on h—" asked an elderly man who came from the back but before he could continue he stopped. He stood there slack-jawed looking like he had seen a ghost.

"Shou?!" exclaimed Aang equally as surprised.

* * *

Notes:

Fujian is a province in China

As always, reviews are welcomed!


	7. Conversations, revelations and realities

_Chapter 6 – Conversations, revelations and realities_

"Aang, who is that? How do you know him?" asked Katara glancing between her speechless boyfriend and the speechless old man standing behind Chiyoko.

"Hii-ojiisan, please sit down. You look like you've seen a ghost," said Chiyoko ushering the old man into a seat at the table next to theirs.

"I can't believe that after all these years here you are," said Shou, still very much surprised by the turn of events.

Chiyoko turned to Asuka, the other girl had been forgotten in light of recent events. "Asuka, please go find my hii-obaasan. This is something that I think she would be interested in," Chiyoko told the other girl quietly. Asuka nodded before disappearing wordlessly.

"Aang," said Katara a little more urgently, shaking him gently. "Who is that, Aang?"

"It's Shou," replied Aang finally snapping out of his stupor. "I know him from before."

"From before?" questioned Katara clearly confused and so were the rest of the gang.

"From before the war," answered Aang quietly.

In the stunned silence that followed that bombshell a raging boar-q-pine could have come entered the restaurant and no one would have noticed. Mrs. Nikaido glanced at the group to her left from under her eyelashes feeling uncomfortable. It was clear that they had forgotten that she was there and that if she wanted to she could continue to observe the dramatic scene unfolding before her eyes without being noticed. However, Mrs. Nikaido felt that she was intruding on what seemed to be an extremely personal moment between the group members, it would be better if she left. Before she could get up and leave the payment on the table Chiyoko appeared and started to clear off the table. It appears that she had not been completely forgotten. Chiyoko saw her out and thanked her once again for her business before wishing her a goodnight. When she returned everyone was sitting in the exact same place as before and to her it looked as if no one dared to breathe much less move.

"Asuka, really, why are you in such a rush? What could possi—oh my word."

"Hello, hii-obaasan, as you can see we have some guests and I think that it would be wise to move everyone to our home, don't you agree?"

"Of course, come on Shou; let's move everyone into our house. This conversation would be better continued away from prying eyes and ears," Mao said leading her husband out of the inn's restaurant. Aang and his friends followed, Shou, his wife and their great-granddaughter to their home near the edge of their property. Their home was not particularly large nor was it particularly small but it was comfortable. Once everyone was situated in the living room they continued with their conversation.

"They thought you were dead, you know, everyone but Gyatso thought that you were dead. He never gave up though, he held out hope until the end," said Shou after he had seated himself next to his wife. Aang didn't say anything in response; instead he stared intently at his feet.

Finally, Aang looked up and spoke. "I'm sorry that I ran away," he said in a small voice.

Shou looked at Aang with kind eyes. Aang looked just like he did all those years ago but his eyes told another story. His eyes told of a boy who shouldered a burden too large for his years. "I know this burden was hard for you to handle that is the reason why they wait until the child is sixteen to tell them that he or she is the Avatar. Gyatso also knew how hard this was on you, Aang. He wasn't mad that you left, you must know that."

"How do you know?" asked Aang.

"How exactly do you know, Aang?" interjected Sokka.

"I lived at the Southern Air Temple with Aang before the war but I was only six so we didn't interact as much," replied Shou, answering Sokka's question. "As for how I know that Gyatso was not mad that you had run away, it was simple, I asked him."

* * *

"_Gyatso, why are you sad?" asked a six-year-old Shou. He didn't understand why the kindly monk was so sad all the time now._

"_Oh, Shou, why are you still up? It's quite late, come on, let's get you to bed," said Gyatso tiredly._

"_But why are you sad?" persisted the six-year-old. "Is it because of Aang?"_

_Gyatso stopped and looked down at the young boy. There was no use hiding it, Shou was always a very perceptive boy. "Yes," he replied. "I'm sad that he went away."_

"_Why did Aang go away?" asked Shou curiously, no one had told the younger ones why Aang had left. No one talked about it, not the monks and not the older children. The older children talked about Aang in hushed voices, as if he had died but he wasn't dead, Shou was sure of that fact, the monks would have told all of them if Aang had died._

"_I don't know, Shou, I don't know. I wished he didn't go, I would have fought for him to stay here; he deserves to grow up as normally as possible."_

_Shou looked at Gyatso in confusion, why wouldn't Aang grow up normally? Before Shou could ask that question he noticed that Gyatso was wearing a traveling cloak but it was late at night, there was no reason to travel. "Gyatso, why are you wearing that?" asked Shou pointing to the traveling cloak._

"_I'm going out for a bit."_

"_Why?"_

"_I'm going to look for Aang, to bring him back. He needs to know that we are all worried about him and that I am sorry that it came to this. I'm sorry that the others only see the Avatar and not the scared young boy in front of them."_

* * *

"How did you escape the massacre?" asked Zuko. "Sozin made sure to kill everyone in the temples."

"What Sozin didn't know was that the leaders of the temples had a plan incase something happened. They evacuated the younger novices from the temples and gave the older ones the choice. We hid with the Airbenders who lived outside of the temples or with allies within the other nations."

"When Sozin didn't find the Avatar he started to search for the Airbenders that lived outside the temples," replied Zuko.

"That's true," said Mao speaking up for the first time since they had arrived. "The Fire Nation army swept the lands looking for the Airbending masters, they weren't looking for us, and they assumed that they had killed all the novices. Those were uncertain times, we were always moving, never staying in one place too long. Airbendering master grew out their hair and hid their tattoos. No one dared to wear Air Nomad colors; instead we wore the clothes of other nations. We didn't trust easily because even the closest allies can buckle under threat of death at the hands of the Fire Nation."

* * *

"_Get up!" hissed an urgent voice shaking an eight-year-old Mao._

"_What is it?" asked Mao sleepily._

"_We have to go; the scouts saw Fire Nation troops approaching."_

_Mao shot out of bed no longer sleepy. This was bad, the raids were becoming less frequent but they were just as ruthless, if not even more so. It had been two years since the Fire Nation had invaded the Air Temples but they still had Air Nomad raids, Fire Lord Sozin was convinced that the Avatar had somehow escaped. Mao quickly gathered up what few belongings she owned in her knapsack and helped the others take down their small temporary encampment. Once all the children had gathered two of the young masters, Rei and Haru, started to lead them away. Four other masters brought up the rear, the rest stayed behind to give them cover. If any survived they would meet up later. Right now, though, they had to put as much space as possible between them and the Fire Nation troops, the children that they were protecting were their only hope for the future._

* * *

"After a while the raids slowly dropped off until one day they finally stopped," said Shou continuing the story. "By then, many of the masters that had escaped the initial attack were gone, some died from old age, some were captured by the Fire Nation and some died escaping the Fire Nation raids. Those that were left settled into remote towns."

"So any masters left gave up the nomadic way of life."

"Yes," replied Mao. "Many of the novices had settled and proceeded to blend into the local communities before the raids had stopped. Those that had not settled into towns found their own towns to settle in. History said that we had disappeared years ago so no one noticed us when we moved into towns."

"Do you know how many survive?" asked Aang speaking up for the first time since Shou had told him about Gyatso.

"No," said Shou. "I don't know how many are left, we didn't keep count of our numbers, it was safer that way, in case we were caught by Fire Nation troops they would not know if we were the last or one of many. It was decided at the beginning that is the way it should be."

Shou and his wife excused themselves and went off to a more secluded corner to talk quietly leaving the teenagers to themselves. No one of them spoke for quite a while, each lost in their own thoughts. For all of them it was the first time hearing about surviving Airbenders. For Aang it was the first time hearing about Gyatso since he had left the Southern Air Temple. In the deepest recesses of his mind Aang always feared that Gyatso was mad at him for leaving so hearing that in reality that was not the case gave him comfort and banished those thoughts from his head. They all jumped when they heard the light clatter of dishware being placed on a table. They looked up to see Chiyoko and a younger girl approaching them with some food on two trays. None of them had noticed that she had slipped away yet apparently she had.

"Here," she said handing them each a plate with some food. "It was getting late and I'm sure that you're all hungry."

They all murmured their thanks to her. After her and the younger girl had passed out all the food they returned to where Shou and Mao were sitting. About fifteen minutes later Shou, Mao and the tow girls got up from the table and before they left Shou and Mao gave each girl a tender kiss on their forehead before heading out. The two excused themselves from the room and then leaving hand-in-hand. A couple of minutes later the younger girl also left the room leaving just Chiyoko and the gang.

"It's quite late," said Chiyoko breaking the silence. "You guys should go, Aiko and Shen are probably wondering what happened to their guests," she continued as she collected their plates and disappearing into the kitchen briefly. "If you want to talk more come back tomorrow. I'm sure that you would like some time to digest this information, correct?" she continued upon her return. Chiyoko saw her guests out and wished them all a good night.

* * *

The sun had set almost an hour ago and twilight was slowly turning to dusk. Now was as good of a time as any Chiyoko concluded as she quietly slipped out of her house. She picked up the lantern she had left near the shed and lit it before she made her way towards the Shinotsuka inn but halfway there she headed towards the forest and her favorite spot. Maybe banking on the Avatar to seek her out was being overly confident but she didn't think so. He had just discovered that he was not the lone survivor; he was bound to have many questions. She would just wait for a while, she was sure that he would show up.

* * *

Ever since they had left the Kagusa Inn Aang had been deep in thought. All attempts at engaging in him conversation had been met with silence so by the time they had returned they had given up trying to converse with him. Katara walked with Aang in silence, she didn't know what to say and Aang wasn't in a sharing mood. Once they had reached his door Katara turned to him and said the only things she could think of.

"Good night, Aang. My door's always open if you want to talk," she said pulling him into an embrace.

"Good night, Katara," replied Aang wrapping his arms around her. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind and Katara, I swear, it will get better," he told her in attempt to reassure her. Katara nodded and gave him a kiss peck on the cheek before fleeing to her room. Once alone in his room Aang sighed heavily as he sank into a chair by his window. Momo, sensing his anxiety, crawled into his lap and Aang began to unconsciously stroke the lemur. Touching the slightly bristly fur of the lemur helped calm his nerves down and also clear his head somewhat. Momo had always been good at comforting Aang on some level, sometimes Aang often wondered if there was more to his pet lemur than meets the eye. It was while Aang was de-stressing by his window that he noticed the bobbing light in the distance. Fascinated he continued to watch as the light moved towards the inn before turning towards the woods for no apparent reason. Though it was getting dark out Aang felt a strong need to follow this mysterious light so he shot out of his seat upsetting Momo. The lemur made his displeasure known but Aang paid no heed to him as he grabbed his glider and swiftly climbed out his bedroom window. Momo was obviously put out but he still followed Aang into the night, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

The light had gotten a head start but Aang made good time and he had reached the tree line just seconds after the light had been engulfed by the trees. Upon entering the woods Aang found that a well trodden path lay just yards from the edge of the trees. He found that this path was relatively easy to climb sloping gently upwards there were, however, many twists and turns and at times Aang feared that he had lost the light but always it would appear just ahead of him as if it was beckoning him to follow. When he had finally emerged from the threes he found himself in a meadow much like the one he was in during the day and saw the source of the light resting at Chiyoko's feet. She was sitting on a large rock in the middle of the meadow with her back facing him, Aang wasn't completely sure what she was doing but it seemed that she hadn't noticed his arrival.

"Fifteen minutes," she suddenly said stopping Aang dead in his tracks. Apparently she had noticed.

"What?" asked Aang clearly confused.

"The time that it took you to catch up with me," she replied turning to face him. "For someone who spent the better part of last year traipsing through the woods you're really slow," she said giving him a wry smile as she beckoned him to come sit next to her on the rock. Not knowing how to respond to her remark he accepted her offered and she scooted over to give him more room. He turned to look at her but she was too busy staring out at the horizon to pay attention but after what she had just told him he wasn't sure. Now that he was out here he wasn't sure why, he had followed her lantern light on an impulse but now he wasn't sure what the next step should be. So instead he twiddled his thumbs as he waited for her to make the next move.

"This is my favorite time of the day," she said breaking the silence.

"Why?" asked Aang curiously.

"Because this marks the time that I can come to practice, during the war everyone made sure to get into their houses by dark. Coming to the fields at dusk was the safest, by then everyone was either already instead or hurrying to get home so no one noticed us as we slipped away and there was still enough light to see with so we could hide our lanterns in our cloaks."

As she spoke she had been playing with the winds, suspending the petals of flowers in the air as Aang watched the petals dance around him he suddenly realized something. The dancing petals were just a distraction. What she had been subtly doing was manipulating the air around them in such a way so that the only way to overhear what they were talking about was to be floating right above them. Aang marveled at the control she had over this, if he hadn't been paying attention then he would have never noticed the covert movements of her fingers. Obviously she had been trained and trained well if this was any indication.

"Who taught you how to do that?"

"It's nothing really fancy or anything, it's a simple move," she replied as she continued to manipulate the air around them.

"No, not that, what you're really doing." Aang felt the air around them shift every so slightly but it quickly returned to the way it had been. "Now that's a pretty advanced move."

"My great-grandparents and grandparents taught my siblings and I when we were younger and then my grandparents took over once my great-grandparents wanted to retire. After we moved here my grandparents continued to teach us but others also offered to teach us. No one taught me how to do this; it's just something I figured out myself after watching others do similar but easier moves with air."

"You're just naturally good at this." Aang stated simply.

"I suppose you could say that, my teachers have always told me that I am quite adept at picking up airbending moves," Chiyoko replied flippantly. "I suppose that it was the same with you."

Aang nodded, he too was also told that he was a naturally gifted bender, only later did he learn that his talents extended far beyond airbending. "You could say that."

"So what's it like?" she asked suddenly.

"What what's like?"

"Being the Avatar."

"Frightening," Aang replied saying the only word he believed could sum up his doubt, uncertainty and fear of failing to meet all the expectations placed on him.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, suddenly everyone expects you to have the answers, to be able to help stop wars and mad leaders but in reality, I'm just a kid. I don't have the answers and even the wisest will say that they cannot be as wise as the Avatar so who can I turn to for help?"

Chiyoko nodded understandingly. "It must have been overwhelming to find out that you were the Avatar after sixteen years of just thinking you were just a regular kid."

"I wasn't sixteen when they told me, I was twelve," said Aang softly.

"Oh?" said Chiyoko, her curiosity suddenly piqued. "Why didn't they wait?"

"They felt that I had to start training immediately, they thought that war was on the horizon, they ended up being right of course, but at that moment it didn't matter. All I knew was that after they told me nothing was ever the same. Practically overnight all of my friends didn't want to hang out or play games with me and then all my time was spent learning advanced moves."

"It must have been hard," the girl replied sympathetically.

"It was," agreed Aang sighing heavily, "but what was harder was waking up after a century long slumber and realizing how much had changed."

Chiyoko glanced over at the younger boy and saw how downcast he had become, hesitating for only a moment she reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "Don't blame yourself," she told him firmly. "What was done was done; there is nothing you can do to change it. The only thing you can do is learn from it. You learned from it and you stopped the war. The monks would be proud of you."

"I just wished that Gyatso and all the others didn't have to die."

"From what my hii-ojiisan said it seemed like you and Gyatso were close."

"He was my mentor, guardian and friend. We didn't have parents at the temples but I guess you could say that Gyatso was kind of like my dad, he was the only one who insisted that even though I was the Avatar I was still a kid and I should get to act like one still."

"You miss him, don't you?"

"Very, very much," answered Aang sadly.

"It gets easier, you know, I mean it never goes away but it does get easier over time."

"How much time until it became easier for you?"

"It's been seven years since my father and older brother were killed and we, my family, still miss them very much and we will probably always miss them but now it's easier to handle. I won't lie to you, there were days that the grief was so overwhelming that I didn't want to get out of bed and there were days that I was so mad at the world for continuing when mine had been shattered, but you learn to handle the anger and the grief and one day there is color and life in the world again."

"You don't have to tell me and I'll understand if you don't want to talk about it but what happened to your father and your brother?" asked Aang tentatively unsure how far he could push her.

After a silence that Aang feared would last forever Chiyoko finally spoke.

"We were heading towards this village and we only had three more days until our next safe house stop," she began her eyes unfocused as they saw things that now lived only in her memories.

* * *

_The steady pace the small group had set was suddenly interrupted by the panicked return of the scouts._

"_A band of Fire Nation soldiers!" one scout managed to get in between the numerous breathes he was taking._

"_How many?" asked one of the men._

"_Probably twenty," answered another scout._

"_How much time?" asked a man near the back of the group._

"_Twenty, maybe thirty minutes at the most," supplied the oldest scout._

_That news threw the group into a flurry of activity. Three families had been traveling together with the aide of scouts who had made this journey many times before, now the families were scrambling to get the children and the elders out of harm's way. Couples and families bade each other tearful land hurried goodbyes because many of the men chose to stay behind to give their loved ones a better chance of escape. Less than fifteen minutes after the families and others had made their escape they heard the unmistakable sounds of battle and they urged each other to move faster. Soon after they heard the faint sounds of the Fire Nation foot soldiers plowing through the woods, they would never make it without some cover. Seeing how desperate their situation was fast becoming the older boys made their decision._

"_Chiyoko," said her older brother addressing her in a suddenly serious tone, "I need you to protect everyone until I get back, okay?"_

"_But Dad gave that job to you, Yori," the eight-year-old girl told him, panic and fear evident in her voice._

"_I know he did but it's only for a little while, okay? Can you do that for me?"_

_Chiyoko nodded._

"_Good," he said with sadness in his voice, "Love you, sis."_

"_Love you, Yori."_

* * *

"The last time I saw my brother was on that path, standing with the other boys their swords at the ready. We waited at the safe house for two days and on the third day the few survivors arrived, one of them brought back my father and brother's sword," finished Chiyoko, tears flowing down her face.

After she finished her story Aang finally noticed how the wind had picked up and started to break from the control Chiyoko maintained on them. Taking his hand he gave her free one a squeeze to remind her that she was not alone. That was enough get Chiyoko to focus and almost instantly she had regained control of the air around them. Once again Aang marveled at her control.

For lack of anything better to say, Aang said the only thing he could think of to say in situations like this. "I'm sorry about your brother and dad."

"Me too," she said softly. "And I'm sorry about Gyatso," she added.

"Me too," replied Aang echoing Chiyoko's earlier sentiments. Together the two sat in a somber silence taking comfort in the knowledge that they were not alone.

* * *

Katara sat on the back porch watching the fireflies fly around. Once they had returned everyone had retired to their own rooms but after almost half an hour of trying to keep herself occupied in her room Katara gave up. She had made a beeline for Aang's room but her requests to speak to him were met with silence. Now she was sitting on the porch holding a lukewarm cup of tea. She had initially wandered into the kitchen to find something to do with her hands and to keep her mind off tonight's revelations; she had left it with a cup of tea that promised to calm her mind. However, ever since she had arrived at the porch she had forgotten about her tea instead choosing to spend her time staring at the fireflies. If tonight's revelations were a surprise to her then they must weigh heavily on Aang. He had spent the last year thinking that he was all alone and in one night he found out that not only was that not true but he had also rediscovered a connection to his life before the war. Katara was so engrossed in her thoughts and watching the fireflies that she didn't Zuko until he was sitting next to her.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked.

She jumped and nearly spilled her cup of tea.

"Zuko! I didn't see you there," Katara replied after she gained back her composure.

"It's okay," he answered her chuckling slightly. "I was just wondering why you were out here, that's all."

"I needed to do some thinking and I just ended up here."

"Oh," he sad casting around to see what else he could say. They had become good friends in the past year but sometimes they fell back into uncomfortable silences that were the norm when Zuko first joined the group.

"What are you doing out here? I thought that you would be with Mai."

"I was but Mai was tired so she went to bed but me, I wanted to think about some things and clear my head."

"I see. Would these things have to do with what we heard tonight?"

"Hearing about what the survivors of the massacre of the Air Temples reminded me of the many sins the Fire Nation has committed in the past one hundred years. Sometime I wonder if we can ever do enough to be forgiven," said Zuko with a heavy sigh.

"I'm sure you can."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I have faith in you and I know that you're sincere about making amends. And for the record, Aang knows too."

"Thanks, Katara."

* * *

"So, besides your family are there others here in Kao?"

"There are three other Airbender families Kao but there are many more here that have Air Nomad ancestry in them and there are others whose ancestors helped Air Nomads after the temples were targeted."

"No wonder Toph said people here are light-footed."

"The only Airbender children come from Airbender families but every child born in this village is either an Earthbender, or a non-bender with some affinity to either air or earth. I suppose you could say that those with Air Nomad ancestry have the tendency to be quite light on their feet."

"What about Aiko, Shen and their daughter?"

"They have airbending and earthbending in their past."

"How do you know?"

"I'm not really sure," she answered him shrugging, "I just kind of do, for as long as I can remember I could just tell by looking at them if there was any bending in their familial history. That's how I know that the girl with the short reddish brown hair has earthbending in her lineage and the other girl, the Fire Lord's companion, has at least firebending in her ancestry, maybe more, hers is a particularly complicated past."

"The monks talked about people like you before," said Aang thoughtfully. "They said that people like you, people who can find bending heritage in people's past, can be found in every nation and that often times they become the sages for the sacred temples and can help find the new incarnation of the Avatar."

"That's interesting, no one's ever told me that before. Thanks you, for telling me."

"Why hasn't anyone ever told you this before? Why didn't your great-grandparents tell you? It was common knowledge at the Air Temples."

"You're forgetting that they were only six when they fled the temples," she told him smiling sadly, "and many years past before I was born."

Aang nodded sadly, he _had_ forgotten.

"Now that the war is over I want to start restoring the temples, it will be good to get them full of people again," he told her with obvious excitement.

"That would be nice; I've never been to an Air Temple before."

"You'll love it," Aang told her firmly. "I can't wait until the monks and nuns can return, finally after over a century the Air Nomads can return."

"Yeah…"

"Why do you sound so unsure?"

"I just don't want you to be disappointed, that's all."

"Why would I be disappointed?" he asked her confused.

"A hundred years have past; things have changed. There aren't even any more nomads left; my hii-ojiisan and hii-obaasan gave up the nomadic lifestyle many, many years ago. Before you reappeared we thought that all the nomads had died a long time ago."

"But that can all change, the nomads can come back."

"Aang, the Air Nomad culture you know no longer exists," she told him sadly. "You and my hii-ojiisan and hii-obaasan are a dying breed; the world you and they know disappeared a long time ago. We don't know that world, all we know of it are the stories we've heard and the pictures we've seen. You need to understand that"

"I do understand that but where does that leave well, us, the surviving Airbenders?"

"It doesn't mean that we can't revive the Air Nomad culture, Aang, all I'm saying is that it will be different, that's all. Look, you should come tomorrow night to see what I mean."

"What's tomorrow?"

"Obon, she said. "You remember Obon, right?"

"I do but at the Southern Air Temple it was just a day of reflective and meditative prayer."

"Then you should definitely come tomorrow, what we do is quite different from that."

* * *

Notes:

hii-ojiisan - A Japanese word for great-grandfather

hii-obaasan - A Japanese word for great-grandmother

If I got the usage wrong, I'm sorry. When I looked up the Japanese word for great-grandfather and great-grandmother there was more than one word for each but I think that these two are the more common ones to hear/read.

As always, reviews are always welcomed!


	8. Interludes

_Okay, so this is just a short chapter that I felt was a good set up for the following one, it was also a good way to sort of delve into how this news has affected Aang and Katara's relationship since in this story they've sort of drifted apart._

* * *

_Chapter 7 – Interludes_

The return journey was made in a comfortable silence and at the mouth of the trail Aang and Chiyoko bade each other good night. Aang was surprised to realize how much time had passed; he hoped that no one had noticed his absence. He soundlessly climbed through his window and after gently opening his door a crack he was relieved to hear silence. By the way the moonlight shone into his room Aang knew it was later, perhaps no one had noticed his absence. Deciding that it was really too late to worry about that sort of thing Aang changed and fell asleep within moments.

* * *

The sun would be rising in just a few minutes and there was a slight chill in the air when Aang stepped outside. Early morning was his favorite time of day; back at the Southern Air Temple they would greet the sun and then begin their early morning meditation. This morning ritual was Aang's favorite and after he had been freed from the iceberg he would often wake earlier than the others to sneak off to perform it, it prepared him for the day ahead and also acted as another connection to his life before being imprisoned in the iceberg. Finally reaching the spot he had discovered last night he stood facing the east and watched as the sun broke the horizon, smiling Aang then assumed his mediation position and began to clear his head.

The village was just beginning to come to life when Aang returned; he decided that while it was still early he should go and visit Appa. The barn was a large airy structure, Appa shared the space with a couple of koala sheep, cow hippos and two ostrich horses, a lone cat owl was just settling down for sleep in the rafters when Aang entered.

"Hey, Appa, how was your night?" asked Aang as he picked up the brush and started to brush Appa's fur. Appa grunted in response so Aang continued with his one-sided conversation. "The past couple of days have been pretty hectic and filled with lots of revelations. Yesterday a major bombshell was dropped and I'm not sure what to do next. There's a very good chance that the Air Temples will be in use again because there are other Airbenders and I should be excited but I'm not. I'm confused, I—"

The sound of metal hitting metal followed by a few choice words made Aang jump and drop the brush, he had not expected anyone to arrive just yet. Turning around he found Kohana scrambling to right the fallen items, once that task was done she straightened up and gave Aang a sheepish look.

"Sorry, it's early so I didn't think that anyone would be here," she told him picking up the basket and metal pail at her feet. "I was just going to milk the cow hippos," she explained holding up the metal pail, "just continue what you were doing."

"Uh, okay," Aang said as Kohana headed towards the closest cow hippo and began to milk her. Aang turned back to brushing Appa in silence.

"So," began Kohana clearly unsure and a bit uncomfortable with being alone with Aang, "why are you up so early? Is this a normal thing for you?"

"I guess you could say that, early morning is my favorite time of day."

"Really, why is that?"

"Back when I still lived at the Southern Air Temple we had a morning ritual where we'd greet the sun and then do morning meditation, it was my favorite part of the day."

Kohana smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful way to start out the morning. I've got to say, I can see why you like early morning, there's just a stillness and calm to it that isn't there during the rest of the day."

Aang nodded his agreement at her statement and for the next several minutes all that could be heard was the soft rustle of fur being brushed and the faint _plunk_ of milk falling into the milk pail.

"I couldn't help overhearing the last bit of your conversation," Kohana suddenly blurted out before stopping and waiting to hear the boy's response.

The hand brushing Appa stopped suddenly and Aang froze unsure of what to say or do next.

"If it's any consolidation I think that it's perfectly acceptable to be unsure about how you feel. You've talked to not only Chiyoko's great-grandparents but Chiyoko herself and she can be pretty frank, she doesn't mean to but she can't help herself sometimes."

"You've got that right," said Aang a bit annoyed, Kohana couldn't help by smile amusingly.

"You're probably the oldest survivor; the few that are still alive today fled the temples when they were very young. I don't know how many of the traditions you may know but they don't know or remember many. When they were on the run the older Air Nomads did not have a lot of time to pass on the traditions, they were more worried about surviving. Even if traditions were passed on the survivors were often too afraid to perform them or pass them on to their children, someone might see them and tell the Fire Nation soldiers or bounty hunters. The reality is, young Avatar, you are somewhat of an anomaly in today's world. The few temple survivors alive today have created very different lives from the ones Air Nomads have lived for centuries and they have passed this new life onto their children in actuality you are the last surviving Air Nomad."

"So you agree with Chiyoko then?"

"It depends, what did she say?"

"That the Air Nomad culture that will be revived will be a drastically different one from the one I remember."

"Then I'd have to say that I do agree with her. Maybe it won't be drastically different but it will be different, there's no denying that. There is no way to erase a hundred years of outside influence and this is the only life that I and so many others know. I doubt that the current Airbenders would abandon it, instead they will probably just incorporate it with Air Nomad traditions that they know."

"Is everyone in this village candid?"

"You could say that," Kohana replied smirking. "Well, I'm done milking," she said standing up and storing the stool. "Are you done brushing Appa?"

"Yup," he replied putting away the brush and patting Appa one last time. "Here, let me help you with that," he said picking up the milk pail.

"Thank you, Avatar Aang."

"Just call me Aang."

"Okay, well, thank you, Aang," she said smiling down at the young boy walking beside her.

There are some other things that I want to ask you about," Aang began as they made their way back towards the inn.

"Go on" replied the older girl.

"Where Chiyoko learned to throw like she does, the only other person I know who does that so well is Mai."

"She learned from a woman in her old village, this woman had been a warrior when she was younger but left her troupe when she married as tradition demanded, she also had a young daughter who was best friends with Chiyoko so this woman taught them how to use weapons and fight as she had done when she was younger. When Chiyoko was eight the woman and her family moved back to her home region so that they could be closer to her childhood home in case her daughter wished to be a warrior as well."

"Do you know where that woman was from?"

"No, you'll have to ask Chiyoko that."

"Does Iroh know the truth about your village?"

"No, General Iroh has always suspected that there is more to place than meets the eye but he doesn't know the truth."

Before Aang could continue questioning Kohana they had arrived at the kitchen and Aang excused himself so that he could get washed up for breakfast. On his way to the dining area he ran in Katara and before she could get away he grabbed her hand and gently pulled her into an empty room.

"Aang, what's going on?" Katara demanded.

"Come with me later," he told her quietly.

"Come with you where?"

"To visit Shou and his wife, I'm sorry for shutting you out before; I didn't mean to, I want you to be involved in my life and talking to them, reconnecting with other Airbenders is important and I want you to be part of it," he told her looking at her uncertainly.

Katara searched his face looking for something; she must have found it because she slipped her hand into his before answering him. "Of course," she told him smiling.

About one hour later Katara and Aang were just coming in view of the Kasuga Inn. Today they had all decided to go their separate ways but they would meet up later for Obon. When they entered the restaurant they were met by the young girl from last night.

"Hii-ojiisan's waiting for you in our house with hii-obaasan. Come on," she told them leading back to her house.

When Aang and Katara entered they found Shou and his wife sitting in their living room enjoying some tea. The two elderly adults stood up to greet their younger guests.

"Good morning, Aang," said Shou good naturedly, "Will it just be you two today?"

"Yes,"

"Very well, Miki, your mother is looking for you."

"Bye!" the young girl yelled before running out of the house.

"That child can be such a handful," Mao said shaking her head slightly and chuckling. "Well, before we begin, who is this young lady with you? There wasn't any time for proper introductions last night."

"This is Katara from the Southern Water Tribe; she's someone very special to me," Aang told them smiling at Katara as they all took a seat.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Katara. I don't believe that I've properly introduced myself last night either, I'm Mao, Shou's wife."

"It's nice to meet you too," replied Katara.

"Um, where is Chiyoko?" asked Aang as he glanced around to see if she would appear.

"My great-granddaughter is working on preparations for this evening. Now, where should we begin?" asked Shou after they had all gotten settled.

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking and reminiscing. Shou and Mao told them more about their life since leaving the temples, before they had finally settled down they had traveled all over the Earth Kingdom, much like the Air Nomads of the past. Shou and Aang also regaled the two women with tales of the adventures they had as children at the Southern Air Temple. Despite the age difference there were times when all the children would participate in temple games so Shou and Aang had been fairly well acquainted with each other. As Aang laughed along with Shou as they recounted the food fight at lunch one day that soon involved some of the monks who were young at heart as well, much to the chagrin of rest of the monks, Katara couldn't help but notice the change in Aang. For as long as she had known him he had always been fun-loving and carefree but seeing him with a friend from his past brought out a whole new dimension to his fun-loving, carefree attitude. Katara supposed that this was the way Aang had been before he had found out that he was the Avatar, she wished that she could see him like this all the time.

"Tell me, dear, do you have something to wear for tonight?" asked Mao bringing Katara back to reality.

"Um, well, I'm not sure really."

"Perhaps there might be something here you can borrow for tonight. I think that we can leave them alone for a couple of minutes, don't you?"

Nodding Katara followed the elderly female Airbender up to the living quarters. Upstairs she led Katara to a bedroom that was airy and elegantly decorated with subtle hints to the owner's Air Nomad heritage. While Katara stood and admired the room Mao rummaged through an armoire and soon she found what she was looking her.

"Here," she said handing the Waterbender a simple robe. "This is one of my great-granddaughter's yukatas, I believe that you two are the same size, try it on," Mao said leading her to the bathroom. "I'll be waiting here."

When Katara entered the room again, Mao smiled approvingly. "It fits you perfectly," she said leading Katara to a full length mirror.

"It's beautiful," Katara said as she stared at her reflection. The yukata she wore was a pale blue with a pattern of darker blue flowers and pale orange butterflies, the obi that held it together was also orange. "Are you sure your great-granddaughter won't mind?"

"I'm sure," Mao told her as she came to stand behind the young girl. "You look beautiful and if Aang doesn't agree then he's a fool."

Katara felt the blush creeping up her face. "He's really happy," she said as she sat down on the bed. "Happier than I've ever seen him, he's been through so much in the past year that he deserves to be this happy all the time."

"That he does," Mao said as she joined Katara on the bed, "and judging by the way he looks at you I know that you make him just as happy if not happier."

"…O-oh…" was the only thing that Katara could think of, she was still quite taken aback by what Mao had just told her.

"Come on, let's get you back into your own clothes, I think that we've spent enough time away, don't you?" asked Mao with an amused smile on her face.

After they had finished their visit they were walking hand in hand back to the inn when Katara abruptly pulled Aang to the side of the road and gave him one very passionate kiss. Once they had pulled apart to breathe Katara smiled at him and pulled him back onto the road.

"What was that for?" asked Aang with a slightly goofy grin on his face.

"No particular reason," replied Katara casually, "just because."

* * *

Notes:

Yukata - a summer cotton kimono often worn during summer festivals, everday summer wear, at ryokan, ect.

As always, reviews are welcomed


	9. Paper Lanterns

_Chapter 8 – Paper Lanterns_

Aang stood in his room looking over his robes; they fit much better thanks to Aiko. While he and Katara had been away she had managed to take them in so that they fit him better and for that he was grateful, now they looked like they actually belong to him and he no longer looked like he was playing dress up. Momo chattered his approval from the bed and Aang reached over to give him a piece of fruit he had in the bowl on his dresser. The others were so excited for tonight, probably even more so than him, none of them had ever witnessed an Air Nomad festival or ceremony before and Aang was happy that he was finally getting the chance to share his culture with them. Satisfied with his appearance Aang and Momo went downstairs to wait for the others. When he and Katara had returned they had gotten glimpses of other guests that had arrived for the festival but they had left before Aang had gotten a chance to talk to them. Shen told him that his inn along with the Kagusa Inn and the other inn in the village were hosting the families that were arriving for the festival. This year was the first year where Air Nomads felt safe enough to gather in large groups to celebrate anything. Downstairs Aang found Shen waiting for his family, Shen's family was also going to the Obon festival and they were going to honor his Air Nomad great-grandparents, so they agreed to accompany the group of teens.

"Are we the first ones ready?"

"It would seem that way," said Shen inviting Aang to take a seat with him.

"I thought that Sokka, Zuko and maybe Toph would be down here already too," said Aang taking a seat.

Before Shen could answer everyone came into the living room. Aiko and her family told the teens that they were would be outside waiting for them. Aang saw that they had all dressed in some of their finest clothing. Toph wore a dress that showed her status as heir to the Bei Fong estate, Suki wore a beautiful pale green dress; Sokka wore clothing in the Water Tribe blue while both Zuko and Mai were dressed in clothing befitting their status as Fire Nation nobility and Katara wore the yukata she had borrowed from Chiyoko. As Aang surveyed them he noticed that mixed in with the colors of their own nations were Air Nomad colors and he was touched by their gesture. The fact that they took the time to add the colors of his people meant so much to him and he was again reminded of how much they all cared for him.

"Thank you for putting Air Nomad colors into your outfits, it means a lot to me," he told them with a genuinely grateful smile.

"It was nothing," Katara told him as they walked with Shen and his family.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" whispered Aang as his face neared hers.

"No," she whispered back, blush creeping into her cheeks.

"Well, you do," he told her softly. While Aang tended to think that Katara looked beautiful all the time he thought that she was especially beautiful tonight with her hair free, kept out of her face by the hairpin he had brought her. He loved when she wore her hair loose.

The teens were too engrossed in their own individual conversations that none of them took any notice of how the path they were walking had transformed. The path to the grounds was illuminated by both fireflies and small candles and orange and yellow ribbons hung from the tree branches. Finally they stopped in front of two tall weeping willow trees; the sound of children laughing could be heard on the other side. The sight that greeted them when they stepped through the curtain of leaves was full of activity. Hundreds of tea lights in tinted glass containers had been placed in the trees giving the atmosphere a magical glow, on the tables scattered around the field were white paper lanterns of varying sizes and there was a bonfire in the middle where children were running around laughing or flying kites in the evening air while the adults mingled and talked amongst themselves. All that activity stopped once Aang appeared. Whispers of the word Avatar spread like wildfire amongst the group and they gathered together before bowing before him.

One of the older Airbenders walked over to Aang. "Welcome, Avatar Aang, we are honored to have you in our presence," he said bowing deeply before him.

"It's an honor to be invited," Aang replied clearly uncomfortable with all the attention that he was currently getting. "Um, there's no need to bow," he finished a bit flustered.

"Please, won't you and your friends come join us? It's about to start," the man continued leading them towards the huddle. Aang soon found himself standing next to Shou and the elder Airbender gave him a reassuring smile.

"What's about to start?" asked Aang in a hushed voice.

"You'll see," answered Shou in an equally quiet voice. Everyone's attention was then directed towards a wooden platform where a group of Airbenders ranging from six to twenty stood and together sent out a gust of wind that caused each wind chime hung on the perimeter of the area to ring clearly into the night air. "The festival has started," Shou explained to him over the roar of applause. "Come," he beckoned them to join the throng of people who were heading towards the cliff, slightly confused they obliged.

"I'm glad that you came," said a feminine voice to his left, turning Aang found Chiyoko walking alongside them.

"Thank you for inviting us," he replied and she smiled at him in return.

"I love your yukata, it's very pretty," Suki observed as she and Chiyoko walked side by side. Chiyoko sported a yukata much like Katara's but hers was orange with yellow flowers scattered across it and a corresponding orange obi. Her yukata was almost dress like with the hem flowing out away from her giving her more room to move.

"Thank you," Chiyoko replied graciously, "and I'm sorry yesterday, if I hurt you it wasn't my intention, I just wished to get away."

"Besides getting the wind knocked out of me I'm fine and so are the others, there's no need to worry."

"Good," replied Chiyoko smiling with relief.

Aang took noticed of the silver container that Chiyoko had cradled in his arms and found that after looking around others also carried similar containers. He also took note of how somber some of the faces were and in the end his curiosity got the better of him.

"Chiyoko, what's that?" he asked pointing to the container that she so tenderly held in her arms.

"The ashes of my brother," she told him in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "my mother carries my father's ashes," she continued. The group around her looked at her a bit shocked. "It was my father's wish that if anything were to happen to him that his ashes be scattered to the winds at the end of the war, we thought that it was only fitting to give my brother the same honor. Some are also honoring the wishes of the dead while others feel that it's a fitting tribute to their ancestors."

By then they had reached the edge of the cliff and Chiyoko excused herself so that she could stand with her own family. Aang noticed that Shen and his family had also taken their place at the front and for the first time Aang spied silver boxes in his and Aiko's arms. Aang soon became aware of the low but melodic chanting and the calming effect it had on all around him. After the chants had finished Aang watched as each family stepped forward and released the ashes and as he watched each of them say a final goodbye he couldn't help but feel that he was intruding on such a personal and intimate moment. As the last family scattered the ashes they carried Aang's mind wandered back to the urn at the Southern Air Temple, perhaps he should let their ashes fly free as well. Aang couldn't deny that it would be a very fitting tribute to his family, the Air Nomads tended to go wherever the wind took them, how wonderful it would be to let then travel the world for all time.

* * *

Katara stood at the edge of the firelight slightly confused, Aang told her that Obon was a festival to honor the dead but aside from the ceremony at the very beginning she was unsure how what was going on right now honored the dead. The children laughed and chased each other around and some had even invented a game or dance that involved sticks. Off to her right she saw a small band set up its musicians warming up their various instruments. She had so many question that she wanted to ask but Aang was no where in sight and most of the Airbenders kept their distance from the rest of them unsure if they could be trusted. Glancing around Katara suddenly realized that all her friends, even her brother, had wandered off while she had been watching the children. Great, now who was she supposed to talk to?

"Enjoying yourself?" asked a voice from behind her, Katara immediately whirled around and on instinct fell into a fighting stance. "Woah! It's only me!" exclaimed Chiyoko alarmed at her response.

Katara instantly relaxed. "Sorry, old habits die hard."

"No need to apologize, my great-grandparents sometimes fall back into the habits that helped them when they were on the run and they stopped running decades ago," the Airbender replied giving her an understanding smile. "You never answered my question, are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yes, yes I am, it's quite the festival. Aang told me that Obon is a festival to honor the dead."

"That's right."

"He also told me that at the Southern Air Temple this was a solemn festival but aside from the ceremony at the beginning nothing else has been solemn, in fact, the mood has been very festive."

"And this surprises you?" asked Chiyoko quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah."

"The Air Temples had more autonomy than most people were aware of and each temple would observe each festival, celebration or ceremony as it wished. Obon _is_ a festival to honor the dead but it says nothing about how to honor the dead so at the Southern Air Temple they decided to mark that day with prayer but this—" indicating the scene around them "—is how the Western Air Temple observed Obon. The female Air Nomads who hailed from the Western Air Temple would return and they decided that the best way to commemorate the dead was to show gratitude for all that they have taught us."

* * *

"Hello, Aang."

Aang turned to see another familiar face. "Hello, Wei," Aang responded embracing his old friend. "How've you been?"

"I'm fine, I have lived a good life all things considered and I get to see the end of the war, what more can I ask for?" asked Wei jovially reminding Aang of Iroh.

"I guess there isn't much," returned Aang. "So tell me, Wei, do you have a family as well?" asked Aang glancing around at the myriad of faces around him.

"Yes, I do. Over there is my youngest great-grandchild," Wei said pointing to a small girl holding sticks and playing with some others, "and over there is my oldest great-grandchild," he continued pointing a tall teenage boy standing talking to some of his peers. "The rest of my great-grandchildren are around here somewhere and so are my grandchildren and my own children."

"You must be very proud of them."

"My wife and I are proudest of how well they, our children and their children, have turned out."

Aang nodded, he really didn't have anything to add to that. He had never been a father so he couldn't relate to the pride that Wei felt at seeing his children thrive and raise their own children.

"I didn't know that there were so many Airbenders alive today. There must be at least fifteen families here," Aang commented at last, his eyes scanning the crowd.

"Neither did we," said Wei. "I'm sure you've heard by now that we did not keep a tally of our numbers so this is as much a surprise to you as it is to us. Even among those of mixed heritage there are some Airbenders as well, though I doubt that they are aware of what they can do, the majority of them are weak benders."

At that Aang looked up surprised. "How do you know?"

"Remember when the monks told us about the people who had The Sight?"

"Yes, Shou's great-granddaughter has it but she said that there were no Airbenders or Earthbenders for that matter among those of mixed heritage."

"She is young, she has not had the chance to see the subtle nuances that exist within one's past. She doesn't yet know how distinguish between a slight affinity and a weak bender but over time she'll learn."

"How long do you think that will take?" asked Aang catching on to what Wei _wasn't_ saying, Gyatso had told him once that there were individuals who had The Sight at the Southern Air Temple but when he had pressed him for names the monk had only told him that he would learn who they were in due time.

"Each person is different, it took me almost four years to finally master it but it might take her more or less time, who knows," said Wei confirming Aang's suspicions, "what she has going for her is that with peace she find a proper teacher to help her."

The melodic strains of a familiar tune made its presence known to Aang and Wei and the two friends smiled as they were transported back to the Southern Air Temple. This particular song was one that the monks would play when there was something to celebrate. Aang's smile only got wider as he watched some of the younger Airbenders begin to perform one of the folk dances that could be performed with this song. It was wonderful to see that the arts of their culture had not disappeared completely.

"Come on Aang!" cried Chiyoko laughing as she pulled him towards the circle. He turned to look at Wei but Wei just smiled and shook his head.

"Go, enjoy yourself, I am far too old to keep up with all you young folk," he told him. "I'll just watch."

Aang returned Wei's smile before allowing himself to be pulled into the midst of other Airbenders. It took him a moment to remember the steps but soon he was spinning, turning and leaping with the best of them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Suki trying to pull a defiant Sokka towards the circle of dancers but he wasn't going without a fight. As he passed by Zuko and Mai he saw that while the two were not making an attempt to join him in the dance they were enjoying the music and Aang was glad for that, he knew that Zuko felt extremely guilty because his predecessor had nearly wiped out the Air Nomads so for him to see that all was not lost would lift a heavy burden from him. Eventually the group's steps and turns brought him to where Katara was standing Aang grinned broadly at her and she returned his grin with one just as big. Suddenly he broke away and grabbed her hand and all she could do was give a surprised yelp as she found herself in the dance.

"Dance with me," he told her simply in response to her bewildered look.

"Aang, are you insane?" she hissed back at him. "I don't even know the steps, I'll just mess everyone else up."

"Don't worry about everyone else, just follow what I do. I won't let you fall," he told her his gray eyes looking directly into her deep blue ones. He offered her his hand and together they danced their way effortlessly through the other dancers. As the last upbeat notes faded into the night the band began to play a slower, more melodic piece and others joined the group now that the pace was slower while the original dancers broke off into pairs. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Aang as one of his hands found its way to Katara's waist; the other took a firmer hold of her hand. All around them the other dancers had begun to perform a dance that closely resembled a waltz and as they spun and twirled with the rest of them she spotted Zuko and Mai in the crowd performing an elegant dance that perfectly complimented the dance of the Air Nomads and smiled, they both looked like they were enjoying themselves. Turning her attention back to Aang she remembered that she had not answered his question, she seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

"No, no it wasn't," she replied as she pulled him into a hug.

"I'm glad," murmured Aang, his voice slightly muffled by the fabric of her clothing.

* * *

"If you want to make your speech you're going to have to do so now," said Shou.

"He's right, once we release the lanterns Obon will be over," said Wei turning his attention to Shou and Aang.

Aang gazed out at the crowd and swallowed nervously; he had never had make up a speech on the spot and then immediately give it. His friends were right, however, now would be his only chance to address so many Air Nomads so he squared his shoulders and marched up the steps of the wooden platform. No one had noticed the long figure on the platform until Aang asked for their attention and then every eye was trained on him. Suddenly Aang was acutely aware of how fast his heart was beating and in the back of his mind he wondered how Zuko handled it. After several minutes of excruciating silence the crowd has begun to grow restless and Aang knew that if he didn't say something now he'd lose his nerve.

"Uh, hi." Aang mentally kicked himself, what kind of opening was that? His mind raced as he tried to put his thoughts in order, why didn't he have some sort of outline planned _before_ he stepped onto the platform? Scratch that, he _did_ have an outline but it seemed to have left him the minute he opened his mouth. '_Stop that, panicking will get you nowhere'_ he mentally scolded himself. He took a deep breathe to settle his mind and then began again. "Tonight is an important night not just because we are commemorating those who have gone but because it shows that the Air Nomads have not disappeared. So now I stand before not as the Avatar but as an Air Nomad. The world has thought us dead for many years but it is my hope that with your help we can restore what was thought lost." Applause ripped through the group and Aang descended the platform in good spirits. He was met with a small group of young, eager volunteers. As he made his way back to his friends he ran across many of heads of families that also offered help in anyway possible. Once he had found himself amongst his friends he noticed that some of the Air Nomads were handing out the white paper lanterns he had seen on the tables when they arrived and they were once again heading towards the cliff.

"They will lead the souls of the dead to the spirit world," supplied Chiyoko as she handed each of them a lantern and a small candle. "Light your candle and then place it inside your lantern, once they are all lit we will release them." The others lit their candles with the help of Zuko or Aang and once they had placed them inside they turned expectantly to Chiyoko.

"How are we going to release them?" asked Suki as she looked around and saw how one by one each lantern was illuminated by a soft yellow glow.

"With airbending," replied Chiyoko with a smile.

Before the others could protest she threw her lantern up into the air and with the help of airbending made sure that the wind picked it up. Aang followed suit and with the other girl's help they helped the rest of them release their lanterns. All around them other Airbenders released their own lanterns and soon the night sky was filled with hundreds of paper lanterns their soft glow resembling stars.

* * *

Notes:

Obon - A three-day Japanese Buddhist festival to honor the dead held in the summer, at the close of the festival paper lanterns are lit and then floated down river symbolically signaling the return of the ancestors' spirits to the world of the dead.


	10. Rebuilding

Okay, so this chapter might seem kind of choppy but that's the point. I just wanted to show quick snapshots of what has happened with the Air Temples and a bit of the political aspect four years since the end of the war. Now as to these quick snapshots I actually have more developed scenes planned out for most but I didn't add them because while they are nice they really weren't necessary for the story. I'm thinking that I might make a collection of these 'missing scene' stories if anyone is actually interested in reading what those scenes are.

Also, this is the last chapter before the epilogue thank you to all my reviewers. :)

* * *

_Chapter 9 – Rebuilding_

_4 years since the end of the war_

As Aang and Appa descended upon the Southern Air Temple he was pleasantly surprised to find a gaggle of people waiting for him, they waved as Appa circled above while Aang tried to find a suitable place to land. Nearly two years since the reopening of the temples building materials still littered the once open courtyards. It had taken him almost a year and a half to track down many Air Nomads, but Aang suspected that he might spend his entire life finding Air Nomads or their descendents, and with that small group they had reopened the temples with help from the other nations. Once he landed he was met by the abbot, a wise man by the name of Tao. During the war there had been no new masters, no one was willing to be marked, but Aang suspected that among the current Airbenders there were those who had reached the level of master so once the temples were reopened all the Airbenders were tested to see what level there were at. As Aang suspected there were those who were Airbending Masters and now some were monks or nuns but all were teachers to the children who were boarding at the temples.

"Hello, Aang," said Tao warmly. "This is an unexpected but pleasant surprise."

"Yeah, I was just near by and I wanted to see how the rebuilding effort is going."

Tao nodded, accepting Aang's explanation for the time being, he was pretty sure that there was more that the young man wasn't tell him. "You're in luck; your old room is still available. Jiro will see to Appa if you like," he said indicating a tall, gangly teen next to him. Aang gave the reins to Jiro and saw him gently lead Appa to the stables that once held the flying bison. Momo was busy playing with the young children so Aang left him be and followed the monk to his room. When Tao opened the door Aang was happy to find that little had changed since he had been there last, the only thing he noticed was that the room no longer felt stifling and it was clean and airy. "I'll let you get settled," said Tao breaking the silence. "If you need anything just ask, I'll be in my quarters later if you wish to talk." Aang nodded before throwing his pack on his bed while making his way to the window, he barely heard the door shut as Tao left.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time Aang sought out Tao. He had spent the day helping and observing the rebuilding effort, offering advice, helping with the actual rebuilding or promising the procurement of aid. He had also shown the novices his favorite trick, the air scooter, one of the more adept novices came up with a game for the air scooter and this time Aang was allowed to play. In the back his mind Aang wondered if this current game was anything like the one his friends had played all those years ago. Aang had no more time to contemplate that because he had finally arrived at the wooden door that marked the abbot's room. The abbot's voice beckoned him to come in and when Aang opened the door he found Tao behind a simple wooden desk reading some papers by candlelight.

"What can I do for you, young one?" asked Tao putting down his papers and leveling his gaze at Aang.

"There's something I want to ask you," began Aang as he shut the door.

* * *

His departure from the Southern Air Temple drew as many people as his arrival nearly two weeks ago. He wished that he could stay longer but he had already dawdled long enough, there were places he needed to be. The head temple cook had given Aang a basket of food and Aang was currently securing it in Appa's saddle once that task was done he jumped down to formally say goodbye to the inhabitants of the Southern Air Temple.

"Thanks for everything," He said addressing the monks. "I promise that I'll get that aid as soon as possible."

Tao nodded. "Know that you will always find a home here, Aang. You are always welcome here," he said.

"Thank you," replied Aang sincerely as he embraced the man. Tao smiled and patted the young man's head affectionately.

"Aang, do you have to leave?" asked one of the young children as he tugged on Aang's robes.

Aang smiled and bent down to the child's level. "Yeah, I have to go but I promise that I'll come back, okay?"

"Can we play the air scooter game when you come back?" asked the six-year-old earnestly.

Aang laughed. "Sure thing," he replied as he straightened up. With one last round of hugs Aang jumped into Appa's saddle. "Appa, yip, yip!" As Appa rose into the air and left the temple Aang threw one last look see the people waving below them, he kept his eyes trained on them until they were nothing more than specks on the ground. Finally he turned to face the direction of the Eastern Air Temple; the abbess had asked Aang to visit when he had the chance. Aang decided to stop there on his way back to Ba Sing Se for a meeting with officials of the Earth Kingdom. Once Momo had fallen asleep Aang had little company except for the messenger hawks that were now frequently seen all over the Earth Kingdom and beyond, one of the few Fire Nation practices that everyone seemed to like and so even as the colonies were emptied and its citizens repatriated to the Fire Nation or assimilated into the Earth Kingdom their hawks endured, a symbol of how changed the world had become.

After two days he finally arrived at the Eastern Air Temple. This temple too had changed since its reopening. The courtyards that once were teaming with flying bison both young and old had been converted into places to practice. As Aang descended he watched as the female Airbenders went through their drills. Once he had seen to Appa Aang walked past the group but instead continuing on his way he stopped to watch. The Air Nomads had always practiced moves for self-defense but this was the first time he had seen any Airbenders practice moves more suited for offense than defense, another herald of the change the current Airbenders brought with them. As far as Aang was aware there had never been a need to come up with or practice fighting moves for offense but the new Airbenders had insisted on at least a few moves. They had been born into a world where the ability to fight back superseded the nonviolent route taken by the Air Nomads of the past. Aang couldn't help but wonder if the monks and nuns would have approved. As he continued to watch the Airbenders he saw moves with roots in earth, fire and waterbending, while Airbenders would incorporate some aspects other bending styles into their own moves he had never seen it done on such a large scale before.

"Okay, that's enough for today. Thank you for your time," a young Airbender told the small group and immediately the group started to disband. Once all the other Airbenders were gone the only two who remained were Aang and the other Airbender who was currently sweeping up. "I know you're still there," she said not looking up, "I was wondering when you'd come back. Hello, Aang," she said before looking up.

"Hello, Iva," returned Aang grinning at her. "I see that your students are getting better."

"Well, it has been a year since you last visited," she reminded him.

He chuckled. "So it has," he replied picking up a broom and helping her sweep up.

"So how is your training going? Last time you were here you had just finished waterbending training."

"I've moved onto to fully mastering earthbending now."

"How's that going?"

"Frustrating since earth is the opposite of air but after nearly six months of non-stop training I've improved a lot."

"Then why are you here if you still need to finish your training?"

"I got called back to the Fire Nation to help the Fire Lord with a pressing diplomatic problem, I stopped by Hei Bai's forest to see how the replanting is going and now there is an emergency meeting of the Council of Five and the War Tribunal at Ba Sing Se that I have to go to those. On my way back, I decided to stop by the Southern Air Temple and here before I return to my teacher."

"Doesn't your teacher mind?"

"Yes and no, Toph understands my duties but of course she wasn't thrilled and so she gave me a long list of assignments to do while I'm away."

Iva put the broom away and turned around to see Aang handing her his broom. She obligingly put his broom as well before giving him her full attention. "So, I believe we have a little matter of a rematch."

Aang grinned, "I believe you're right."

* * *

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Avatar Aang," said the matronly abbess.

"Of course, Mother Haya, what is it that you wished to tell me?"

Haya handed Aang a rolled up piece of parchment that had been sitting on her desk just moments. Aang looked up the kindly abbess but she gave him no answer so shrugging he unrolled the parchment to find a list of names and locations. Aang furrowed his eyebrows, he had no idea what this list meant but many of these locations were the settlements within a day's ride by ostrich horse from Ba Sing Se.

"It's a list of individuals that we've located through the help of citizens in the Earth Kingdom and those that live outside," she finally explained. "Individuals that are still in hiding or those descended from Air Nomads. Soon after the temples reopened we, the heads of the temples, agreed that we should also try to find others on our own. This particular list is who we've managed to find in the past year."

"I don't know what to say besides thank you so very much."

"There's no need, we're happy to help."

Not knowing what to say Aang gave the abbess a hug, at first she was surprised but she reciprocated the hug. He reminded her so much of her own young son that had been snatched away far before his time. She had never remarried after the untimely death of her son and husband, instead, she chose to be the kindly community aunt and that role had followed her to the temple but during moments like this there was ting of regret at the decision she had made years ago.

"You should stay the night," she told him firmly after they had separated. "It's getting late and there is no need for you to spend the night flying to Ba Sing Se, is there?" Aang shook his head. "Good, it's settled then. We have some rooms free; you can stay in one of them." She strode to her door and beckoned to a nun who was passing by, the nun nodded and disappeared and Haya turned to address one of the novices who had been hanging back. "Sachi will show you where your room is for the night," she said turning back to Aang. Haya watched as Aang chatted animatedly with Sachi as the two walked down the hall, she smiled before shutting her door. Returning to her desk she tried to concentrate on the papers in front of her but after a few moments she found that she couldn't so instead she opened a desk drawer and took out one single piece of parchment that showed a much younger Haya sitting beside a handsome young man with a smiling child in her lap.

* * *

"Then it's settled. Six months is sufficient time to gather evidence, the trial will begin the week of the new moon six months from now," General Jiro said from his seat at the table. The other council members and Aang nodded their heads in understanding. "Good, this council will reconvene in six months time for the trial of Taro from the Fire Nation settlement of Onon."

General Jiro stamped the parchment while the other council members, representatives from the Fire Nation and Aang got up. He watched as Taro was led away by the guards, he would remain in an Earth Kingdom prison until the trial. The Fire Nation had opened up the channels for prisoner extradition, a significant diplomatic step in mending the broken relationship the Fire Nation had with the rest of the world. Aang sighed heavily, these trials had become less frequent in the past three years but he still hated them but they were still necessary, there were still many that had to answer for their actions. From reading the list of charges levied against Taro Aang knew that prosecution would not seek the ultimate punishment and for that Aang was grateful, it meant that his role would be only as a neutral arbitrator.

Aang bade good bye to the men and gratefully stepped outside. The sun was just about to set; he had been cooped inside for the better part of the day. As Aang made his way back to the apartment that was his permanent home wile in Ba Sing Se he took in the small changes he saw. The walls still separated the various rings but now travel between the rings was easier and all citizens could move between the rings freely. Enrollment into Ba Sing Se University was open to all and aid was given to those who could not afford the tuition, ensuring that even those in the Lower Ring were given the chance at a top collegiate education. In addition, a couple small community colleges had opened in both the Middle and Lower Ring allowing many more access to higher education. Many small things had changed for the better for the citizens of the Lower and Middle Rings. The police state atmosphere had been removed as soon as Ba Sing Se had been liberated by the Order of the White Lotus and Kuei had ensured that Ba Sing Se would not revert back to that state upon his return. His time traveling had opened his eyes to the world more than the betrayal of Long Feng and the Dai Li and now Kuei ruled his people wisely and with had chosen advisors and councilors who he trusted beyond the shadow of a doubt. Finally Aang reached his apartment in the Upper Ring and once inside his room he threw himself on the large bed, he was mentally exhausted. Despite the fact it was still early Aang wanted nothing more than to sleep, endless meetings, as he found out shortly after the end of the war, were more tiring than battles. Yes, a short nap wouldn't hurt; Iroh wasn't expecting him for at least another hour. Tomorrow he was expected at the home a General Cheng, a soldier in the Terra Team and a high ranking noble, hopefully that meeting wouldn't be as mind numbing as many of theses social gatherings were, at least there would be people his age to talk with.

* * *

Aang surveyed the town below him; it was a sleepy little farming community, it looked like this particular town had managed to rebuild after the war because Aang could hardly see any scars of war on the land. Sighing he nudged the sides of the ostrich horse he had borrowed for the day and made his way into the valley. He had opted to leave Appa in Ba Sing Se; he had been warned by Haya that some on the list may not be so cooperative so Aang thought it best to keep a low profile until he located the family on the list. Momo, however, could not be persuaded to stay so he was currently perched on Aang's shoulder chirping excitedly. As Aang rode past the rice paddies and various stretches of farmland some of the workers straightened up to watch him pass. He couldn't help but notice the slight distrust in their eyes, four years had not been enough time to erase the distrust of strangers in this town.

As Aang had suspected it was a sleepy little farming community, the peace found here was a welcome respite from the cacophony of noise always evident in Ba Sing Se. He made his way towards the heart of the town because he was certain to find someone to help him there. His instincts proved true and a kindly old woman had pointed out the direction of the home and also the plot of land that was theirs. She had told him that he would probably have better luck in about n hour, by then the woman of the house would have returned from her morning errands and the man of the house would be back for a quick lunch. Aang agreed and after buying some fruit for him and Momo and tying up his ostrich horse he decided to explore the town with Momo in tow. Soon Momo had attracted a small crowd of children and Aang sat back watching with an amused grin on face as Momo performed various aerial tricks much to the delight of the children. No one had made the connection yet even with his Air Nomad clothing but then again, since the reopening of the temples people wearing Air Nomad clothing were no longer an anomaly. All too soon he saw the men, boys and even some women returning from the fields and with much difficulty he managed to retrieve Momo and the two went off to the home pointed out to him by the elderly woman.

The house was humble but sturdily built, a tall leafy tree stood in the middle of the yard, a woodpile had been arranged at the side of the house and a small barn was located a few paces behind the house. Smoke was rising from the chimney indicating that its inhabitants were at home. With all the resolve he could muster Aang marched to the door and knocked loudly, the quiet hum of chattering immediately stopped and Aang heard footsteps shortly afterward. Before he could even formulate what he was going to say the door was thrown open and he was face to face with a man in his early thirties. The man looked at him questioningly as he took in his simple Air Nomad traveling robes and blue tattoos, before the man could say anything though a young woman, probably in her late twenties, appeared behind him and also gave Aang a questioningly look.

"Hi, may I come in?"


	11. Epilogue: Rebirth

So this is it, it's the end of this story. Thank you for reading and to my reviewers, thank you for taking the time to review this. :)

* * *

_Epilogue – Rebirth_

_7 years since the end of the war_

Today was auspicious.

Saffron streamers hung from the eaves of the temple roofs and multi-colored flags with sacred sutras written on them flapped merrily in the wind. Today marked the first time that the rest of the world would bear witness to a ceremony that was usually done behind closed doors in the inner sanctums of the Air Temples. After almost six years there was finally a new generation of Airbending Masters ready to take up the mantle. Aang could not help but smile broadly as he surveyed the group standing before him from his place next to the four heads of the Air Temples. Dignitaries from all over the world, including the Fire Lord and his family, the Earth Kings and the Chiefs of the Water Tribes, had come to witness an event that had not happened in over one hundred years. Normally the formal presentation of those who had earned the rank of master was witnessed only by the inhabitants of the temples but it was decided that an event as momentous as the heralding of the first generation of post-war Airbending Masters should be shared with the world and the result was that now they had all gathered at the Western Air Temple. Usually separate ceremonies were held at each temple but for this group of students they had been gathered at the Western Air Temples because it would be the easiest one to get to. After it had been reopened footpaths and staircases had been carved into the rock so that they reach the temple now that there were no more flying bison to help them. Aang spotted Katara, Sokka, Suki and Toph in the crush of people but he didn't rush to join them, his place was here next to the temple heads, he would join them afterwards.

The monks and nuns standing off to the side began blowing their horns or playing their drums as the group of about forty individuals entered the large courtyard, one of the many new additions to the temple. Each person already wore the blue arrow tattoos; they had received them about a month ago. The process of receiving the blue tattoos was done over several days and then each recipient was given about a month of recovery time before the formal ceremony. Aang had been sedated during the process, everyone who got them was, but the days immediately afterwards were quite painful and he was eternally gratefully for the gap between receiving his tattoos and the formal ceremony. From where he was standing it looked like all their tattoos had healed nicely and the vibrant blue color stood out in contrast from the skin not covered by their saffron robes or by their shawls, also saffron but a deeper shade of it. Aang, for his part, wore the saffron robes of a temple monk, clothing indicative of his role not as the Avatar but as an honorary monk of the Southern Air Temple. Once the celebratory song was done Izumi, the head of the Western Air Temple stepped forward to address the crowd.

"First, on behalf of all of us, thank you all for coming," she began. "Today marks a significant milestone for those of us with roots in the Air Nomads, nearly six years since our temples' reopening there is a new generation that has reached the rank of Airbending Master." Applause and cheers ripped through the crowd then so Izumi had no choice but to wait until the crowd had finished before she could continue. "They have worked very hard over the years and today they invite you to share the joy of this moment with them."

The calming, rhythmic sounds of the students, monks and nuns chanting the sutras reached Aang's ears; he had not heard so many people uttering these particular sutras since the last ceremony held at the Southern Air Temple before the war. He had run away before his own ceremony. Aang joined them in saying the sutras as the crowd gathered looked on in silence. After the last sutras had been said the citizens of the other nations had stood in silence for about a minute before the Earth Kings, the Fire Lord and Water Chiefs bowed deeply before the temple heads. The Air Nomads bowed to them in return. Now Tao stepped forward to address the students, it was time to recite the ideals they would uphold as Airbending Masters.

"Do you stand here today with the full knowledge of what you are doing?"

"Yes," they answered.

"Do you stand here out of your own free will?"

"Yes."

"Then please repeat after me, I, state your name, promise to uphold the following principles from this day forward."

An almost indistinguishable jumble of names could be heard as each Airbender recited their names in unison drawing some chuckles form the crowd.

"From this day onward, I promise to respect the life of every living thing and to not cause harm to any living thing. I promise to not steal. I promise to not speak falsely. I promise to respect the boundaries agree upon by myself and my partner in a relationship. Lastly, I promise to treat my body as a temple and will not put pollutants into it."

Once the group finished reciting the principles Tao turned to address the crowd.

"It is tradition that each new master is presented with a necklace presented to them by his or her mentor so now I invite those mentors to step forward, starting with those from the Northern Air Temple."

Nine monks along with the abbot of Northern Air Temple, Ichirou, stepped forward and nine of the new masters took a step forward as well. As each mentor placed the necklace on his former student Aang could see that each one gave his ex-pupil some parting words of advice, this was also a tradition, albeit an unofficial one. Ichirou just stood in the back smilingly proudly as he watched his old charges pass into their next phase of life. Ten nuns and Haya, the Eastern Air Temple abbess, stepped forward and she too watched as the ten young women from her temple received their necklaces. Next the twelve monks and Tao stepped forward to give their former pupils one last gift. Aang couldn't help but feel a swell of pride in his chest when he thought about the fact that the most masters came out of his own temple. Finally the last ten nuns and Izumi presented the last ten necklaces and gave the last few bits of advice to their former charges. The ten nuns left the platform and Haya, Tao and Ichirou joined Izumi.

"We certify that those who stand before you have completed each level of airbending and that each of them has rightfully earned the title of Airbending Master. Starting from today we acknowledge them as fully-fledged Airbending Masters."

Applause broke out and it intermingled with the songs that the monks and nuns played on their horns and drums. The temple heads, Aang and the new Airbending masters exited the platform and were immediately engulfed the friends and families who had come to witness today's events. The first thing Aang did was give Katara an affectionate kiss, when they finally acknowledged the others around them he saw Bumi, Iroh, Tao and Ichirou all talking animatedly.

"Hey, isn't that Chiyoko?" asked Suki.

Aang turned to look where Suki was looking and sure enough, it was Chiyoko. She was waving excitedly at them but before she had even made it halfway a young man grabbed her hand, she seemed surprised at first but she went willingly.

"It is but I guess she's busy," replied Aang shrugging his shoulders. "So what did you guys think of the ceremony?" asked Aang, turning his attention back to his friends.

"It was lovely, Aang," replied Mai joining them. "Even Katsu enjoyed it, didn't you, Katsu?" asked Mai addressing the eighteen moth old toddler she was carrying. Katsu just giggled in response.

"It was cool, Aang. I need to learn how to play those things," added Sokka gesturing to where a couple of the nuns and monks were putting away their instruments. "Think they would be willing to teach me?"

"You could ask them, I'm sure they would be willing to teach you. When I was younger there were often visitors from other nations at the Southern Air Temple. They came to learn from the monks and so they'd be there for a couple of weeks to a couple of months."

"You can not be gone for months at a time, Sokka," Suki reminded him pointedly.

"Oh, right," he replied sheepishly glancing at her very pregnant belly. Suki just rolled her eyes exasperatedly, she loved him dearly but there were days. This got a laugh from the group.

"What's so funny?" asked Zuko joining Mai and his son.

"Just Sokka being Sokka," supplied Aang.

"Ah."

"Hey Twinkle Toes, great ceremony," said Toph as she and her beau made their way towards the old gang.

"Thanks, Toph," Aang replied giving her a hug and then acknowledging her boyfriend. "I'm glad that you two were able to come."

"Are you kidding, we wouldn't miss this," she told him before joining Katara, Mai and Suki in their conversation.

An excited yell near them got their attention. Curious they all turned in time to see Chiyoko giving the young man she had been chatting with a very passionate kiss. He then picked her up and spun her in a circle while the two of them laughed and the people around them looked at them bemused.

"I wonder what those two are so excited about?" mused Aang.

"Let's go ask them," said Katara leading the way to the excited couple. "Hey, congratulations, Chiyoko!" cried Katara as she enveloped the other girl into a hug.

"Thanks, Katara! I'm so glad you came," Chiyoko replied practically glowing and giving the Water Tribe girl a kiss on the cheek.

"Congratulations, Chiyoko," said Aang following Katara's example of hugging Chiyoko. "Hideki," he nodded at the young man's direction, he had gotten to know him during his time at the Southern Air Temple.

"Avatar Aang," greeted Hideki bowing.

"Aang is just fine. Congratulations to you as well," said Aang as he shook him hand.

"Thank you, Aang."

"So why were you two so excited just a few moments ago?" asked Zuko.

"Um, well…" began Chiyoko as she tucked her hair behind her left ear revealing a delicate golden colored flower pin just behind her ear.

"That's a beautiful flower, what kind is it?" asked Mai taking a closer look at it.

"It's a cymbidium," supplied Aang. "They grow on the plains at the base of the mountains leading up to the Air Temples."

"Well, it's a beautiful pin," said Katara admiring it. "I guess you gave it to her?" she asked Hideki.

"I did."

"Is it similar to a betrothal necklace?"

"I guess you could say that," began Hideki uncertain.

With an excited squeal Katara once again hugged an unsuspecting Chiyko nearly sending them both toppling were it not for the swift actions of Hideki.

"I've never seen an Air Nomad wedding, what kind of traditions to you have?" began Katara excitedly. Chiyoko and Hideki just looked at each other thoughtfully, unsure of what to say.

"To be honest, we haven't really thought about the idea of a wedding. Air Nomads didn't have weddings or marriages, for that matter, in the traditional sense," explained Chiyoko.

"Then what they do?" asked Sokka.

Everyone, including Aang, was surprised by this piece of information. The monks had never gotten the chance to tell him about Air Nomad courtship or wedding rituals or marriages. The monks told these and other things to each novice in the months leading to their departure from the temple when they were sixteen or seventeen.

"You have to remember that the lives of the Air Nomads were radically different from the rest of the world. Our family structure was very different; the children were born at the temples and grew up there before leaving the temples when they were sixteen or seventeen to learn more about the world before they finally passed the final levels of airbending. Often times they never knew their birth parents or if they had any siblings but that didn't matter, everyone at the temple was their family and that continued once the left the temples. The Air Nomads formed temporary villages often the core villagers never changed so they became their own family. They just never saw the need for marriage as you know it; instead, they formed partnerships that could last many, many years. In fact, my parents were the first in my family to get married but their ceremony was filled with traditions from the Earth Kingdom" Chiyoko finished.

"So does that mean that you're not going to get married?"

"Well, I don't know. The times are different now, children know who their parents are and live with them when they're not staying at the temples, perhaps it's time to start new traditions, marriage doesn't sound so bad, does it?" questioned Hideki looking down at Chiyoko.

"No," she replied smiling shyly at him, "no, it doesn't. You're right, it's our turn to make new traditions," she told him slipping her hand into his.

Everyone gathered around them to give them their congratulations and once Aang extracted himself from the tangle of arms he found Katara standing next to him. Grinning, he grabbed her hand. She returned his smile and with her other hand she touched her new betrothal necklace given to her just six months ago. Soon the members of Chiyoko and Hideki's families appeared, eager to give their congratulations to the new Airbending Masters. Once they had learned that their children had become engaged, the celebratory mood had increased and everyone was currently spontaneously performing folk dances or singing songs. The jovial mood was infectious and soon Aang and Katara found themselves dancing and singing as well. Looking around it suddenly struck Aang that every Airbender here was part of the new generation, every one but him that was, he was the sole surviving member of the old generation but surprisingly that no longer bothered him. He was the last of his generation but he was certainly not the last Airbender anymore.

* * *

Notes:

The princples that they recited are based off of Five Precepts of Taosim and the Five Precepts of Buddhsim. The Five Precepts of Buddhsim constitute the basic code of ethics that lay followers of the Theraveda and Mahayana traditions would undertake. I changed the sexual misconduct one because I couldn't find a way to word it but still keep it with a K+ raiting.

cymbidium - a type of orchid


End file.
